CHARLESTON, SC, USA - Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza kept their perfect start going on Sunday, adding the Family Circle Cup title to their BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open titles, and with that win made history - Mirza clinched the World No.1 doubles ranking, the first Indian woman to be No.1.
After not even losing a set in their first two tournaments together in Indian Wells and Miami, Hingis and Mirza were certainly tested in Charleston - they lost sets in their quarterfinal and semifinal matches, even facing match point against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova in the semis.
But the No.1-seeded Swiss-Indian duo beat Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak in straight sets for the title, 6-0, 6-4, missing two match points at 5-3 in the second set but closing it out a game later.
"It's a dream for every kid to be No.1 one day," Mirza said to the crowd at the trophy ceremony.
"I can't think of a better person to do it with. When we came here we had one thing in mind, to get No.1, and she really helped me get there. She helped me through some tough moments this week. She's just a great person and a great player. We also become the No.1 team in the world today with this.
"I hope we have many, many more tournaments and end the year on a high as well."
Mirza kept the smiles coming as she kept praising Hingis, a former World No.1 herself.
"I don't want to make you feel old, but I did watch you as a kid!" she said, drawing laughter from Hingis and the crowd. "You were an idol to most young girls at the time. You made it when you were 15!"
And on reaching No.1 in Charleston? "No tournament has been as special to me as the Family Circle Cup, and no tournament will ever be as special to me, because I became No.1 here," Mirza added.
Hingis and Mirza had already reached a milestone by making the semifinals in Charleston, securing a rise to No.1 on the Road To Singapore doubles leaderboard, the journey to the doubles event at theBNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, which takes place in October.
But Mirza becoming World No.1 in doubles is something that will go down in WTA history - she's the first Indian woman to reach No.1 in tennis, in either singles or doubles, and just the fourth Asian woman to do it, after Japan's Ai Sugiyama, China's Peng Shuai and Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-Wei.
Mirza has won seven WTA doubles titles over the last 12 months - Oeiras, Tokyo [Pan Pacific] and the WTA Finals last year with Cara Black, Sydney earlier this year with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and of course the aforementioned Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston titles this year alongside Hingis.
For Martina Hingis that marks the 2nd time in her illustrious career that she reached #1 in doubles. Congrats to both ladies on an incredible run!. All the best in the tournaments to come :).
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