Thursday, September 10, 2015

Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza reach U.S. Open doubles final at Flushing Meadows!

NEW YORK, NY, USA - Top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza made it through the rain after their women's doubles semifinal against No.11 seeds, Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta, was delayed into the evening. After working through a tight opening set, the dynamic duo rolled to victory and a second straight Grand Slam final, 6-4, 6-1.

Initially scheduled to play at Louis Armstrong Stadium, the match was moved onto Court 17 when a sudden storm threw the schedule into disarray. When the match finally began, the reigning Wimbledon winners were up against stiff opposition in Errani, the 2012 champion, and Pennetta, last year's finalist (with Hingis) and one who had just made her second singles semifinal in three years.

"It feels amazing," the Swiss Miss said of their win during the post-match interview. "We waited a long time today to get to play. But of course, congratulations to Flavia, for having a great win today, and coming out to play doubles again, and it's great that we have this opportunity to play great players like her, and battling it out and coming back.

"For us it's just another great match. Sania played great from the baseline, setting me up," adding, with a laugh, "Also, today almost better volleys too! She helped me a lot on my serve so I was able to hold my serves and it was just a great match."

Exchanging breaks late in the opening set, Hingis and Mirza took the decisive tenth game and only lost one more from there. The win earned them a sixth final since pairing up this spring; in 12 events together, they've reached the semifinals or better at nine. Mirza admitted that their contrasting styles complement well on the doubles court, but that their chemistry has been the biggest key to their success.

"We get along on and off the court. That kind of helps, when you can stand each other on the court!

"Martina has been an amazing tennis player all throughout her three careers. I have this honor and opportunity to play with her and I feel like we complement each other perfectly. I hit big from the back, and she volleys great but I think more than anything we have a lot of fun. We're always smiling; even when we're a break down we're trying to enjoy what we're doing. I think that's what gets us through a lot of the times."

Hoping to cap their season with a second Grand Slam title, Hingis and Mirza will play either No.4 seeds Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova - who outlasted the all-Russian No.12 seeds in Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - or CoCo Vandeweghe and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who upset No.5 seeds Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik earlier in the afternoon.

Playing just their second tournament together in 2015, Vandeweghe and Groenefeld have barreled through the doubles draw without losing a set - taking out experienced doubles players like No.10 seeds Hsieh Su-Wei and Anastasia Rodionova and 2013 US Open champions in No.7 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. The powerful pair showed off their on-court chemistry throughout their 7-6(5), 7-5 win, and shared a laugh when a miscommunication late in the match saw them miss a shot the other seemed ready to take.

"I think someone has to call it a little earlier, but I blame it that it's only our second tournament, so we still have time," Groenefeld said, as Vandeweghe laughed and refused to take the blame for the miss.

"It certainly wasn't my ball; it was my backhand, for goodness sake!"

Playing another experienced set in Shvedova and Dellacqua for a place in the final, Vandeweghe promised a swifter response in the semis.

"Hopefully I rip the crap out of a backhand down the line, and forget about it: game, set and match!"

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles semifinals also reached their conclusions late Wednesday night, as Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey continued their all-American run into the final by beating Hlavackova and Lukasz Kubot, 6-4, 6-3. Mattek-Sands has been one of the best doubles players in 2015, winning the Australian Open title with Lucie Safarova, and capturing a rare double at the French Open with Safarova and Mike Bryan in mixed. She and Querrey will play the winner of the second semifinal between No.4 seeds Hingis and Leander Paes and No.2 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Rohan Bopanna, which was delayed to give the former a rest after her women's doubles win.

wtatennis.com

Martina Hingis is also in the finals of mixed doubles at the same tournament. 

If she wins it that would make it 2 in a row in back to back Grand Slams (with the doubles & mixed at Wimbledon in June).

How about that!.  

Not bad for an almost 34-year old!. 

Not bad at all :). 

This mixed doubles win is also Martina's third final this year with Leander Paes. 

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