CHARLESTON, SC, USA - Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza survived one of their toughest tests yet to reach the final of the Family Circle Cup. If they win the title, Mirza is the new doubles World No.1.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Charleston right here on wtatennis.com!
The No.1-seeded Hingis and Mirza were up 6-4, 0-2, 30-all, when rain started to fall - and once the rain delay was over, their opponents, Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, caught fire.
"It's never easy to play with the rain delay," Mirza would say afterwards. "All credit to them, though - they came out more aggressive than us, and we didn't win a single point for six points, it was like they were all over the place hitting winners from everywhere. But we knew we had to keep believing."
Kudryavtseva and Pavlyuchenkova cruised through the rest of that set, 6-1, and came out firing again in the match tie-break, going up 4-2 and, after Hingis and Mirza caught up, staying even to 7-all.
But that's when all of the clutch play Hingis and Mirza have been displaying on the big points over the last month came out - they snuck out three points in a row, including a miracle return winner from Hingis for 9-7 and one last volley winner, also from the Swiss, to close it out, 6-4, 1-6, 10-7.
"One of our best qualities as a pair is that no matter how we're playing, we keep fighting," Mirza said. "We've had matches where we haven't played our best, and we still come out winning, and that really helps. We keep trying and we keep believing in our abilities. And that's really what we did today."
Hingis was asked about the miracle backhand return winner that took them to match point.
"I knew they were mainly serving a lot to my backhand, and I lost the last few cross courts with Alla, so I just took my chance and went down the line," Hingis said. "But I also hit it a little bit late, though!"
Hingis and Mirza are now 13-0 together, going 5-0 to win Indian Wells, 5-0 to win Miami and 3-0 to reach this final. By winning their quarter final match on Friday night they already secured No.1 on the Road To Singapore doubles leaderboard, and now there's something even bigger - if they win the final, Mirza will become World No.1 in doubles, the first Indian woman ever to reach No.1 in tennis.
"You try not to think about it, but we're human, and I'm obviously thinking about it," Mirza said.
"But I'm trying to block it out and play every point. That's what we're trying to do."
Waiting for them in the final are Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak, who got past Marina Erakovic and Andrea Petkovic in the second doubles semifinal by an almost identical scoreline, 6-4, 1-6, 10-5.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Charleston right here on wtatennis.com!
The No.1-seeded Hingis and Mirza were up 6-4, 0-2, 30-all, when rain started to fall - and once the rain delay was over, their opponents, Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, caught fire.
"It's never easy to play with the rain delay," Mirza would say afterwards. "All credit to them, though - they came out more aggressive than us, and we didn't win a single point for six points, it was like they were all over the place hitting winners from everywhere. But we knew we had to keep believing."
Kudryavtseva and Pavlyuchenkova cruised through the rest of that set, 6-1, and came out firing again in the match tie-break, going up 4-2 and, after Hingis and Mirza caught up, staying even to 7-all.
But that's when all of the clutch play Hingis and Mirza have been displaying on the big points over the last month came out - they snuck out three points in a row, including a miracle return winner from Hingis for 9-7 and one last volley winner, also from the Swiss, to close it out, 6-4, 1-6, 10-7.
"One of our best qualities as a pair is that no matter how we're playing, we keep fighting," Mirza said. "We've had matches where we haven't played our best, and we still come out winning, and that really helps. We keep trying and we keep believing in our abilities. And that's really what we did today."
Hingis was asked about the miracle backhand return winner that took them to match point.
"I knew they were mainly serving a lot to my backhand, and I lost the last few cross courts with Alla, so I just took my chance and went down the line," Hingis said. "But I also hit it a little bit late, though!"
Hingis and Mirza are now 13-0 together, going 5-0 to win Indian Wells, 5-0 to win Miami and 3-0 to reach this final. By winning their quarter final match on Friday night they already secured No.1 on the Road To Singapore doubles leaderboard, and now there's something even bigger - if they win the final, Mirza will become World No.1 in doubles, the first Indian woman ever to reach No.1 in tennis.
"You try not to think about it, but we're human, and I'm obviously thinking about it," Mirza said.
"But I'm trying to block it out and play every point. That's what we're trying to do."
Waiting for them in the final are Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak, who got past Marina Erakovic and Andrea Petkovic in the second doubles semifinal by an almost identical scoreline, 6-4, 1-6, 10-5.
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