Photo Credit: Jag Gundu
A year ago, the two-time Wimbledon doubles champion’s All England Club comeback was thwarted when she and Vera Zvonareva lost to Mirza and Cara Black in the first round. Now the 34-year-old has partnered with Mirza to return to a quarter-final at the All England Club, the top seeds having progressed through the first three rounds without the loss of a set.
“I have a great partner, I’m not complaining,” beamed the Swiss. “Last year I only played against her in the first round so it’s much better to be on the same side.”
Their latest victory, over Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja, took an hour and seven minutes to complete, Hingis and Mirza’s 6-4, 6-3 win setting up a meeting with Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova.
While it wasn’t quite the dominating performance that they showed in surrendering just five games in the first two rounds, Hingis and Mirza nevertheless showed their clear qualifications to progress all the way to the title: with clear communication and clever tactics, there was also some deft, clean hitting from both players that had the packed Court 6 enraptured.
In the end, it was a victory that simply came down to the higher-ranked players contesting the big points better. The three breaks of serve they surrendered (one in the first set and two in the second) were two fewer than their opponents.
“Today was more difficult,” Hingis conceded. “Sometimes they just came out with shots that we knew if we played well we should win the match but still we had to earn it. “Nobody’s giving it to you anymore here.”
It helps that Hingis and Mirza share such an intense competitive spirit, as they discovered when they teamed in a trial arrangement and immediately claimed titles in Doha, Indian Wells and Charleston.
“We weren’t happy with our current partnerships. It was going OK but I don’t think we were both achieving the results that we wanted really,” said Mirza, before noting with a laugh: “We’re both kind of very greedy when it comes to that.”
The challenge intensifies now, the pair admitting that they sense they’ve become more hunted as other duos become more familiar with their winning style. “I think the teams get a little bit used to us, they have nothing to lose,” said Hingis. “We’re just looking forward to go as far in the draw as possible and I think so far we’re doing our job.”
There’s formidable competition on the horizon, though, with Dellacqua and Shvedova having saved a match point in their 4-6, 6-2, 8-6 progression over Italians Karin Knapp and Roberta Vinci.
“She’s won here before so sometimes she knows how to come out of trouble,” Hingis noted of Shvedova, a doubles champion with Vania King in 2010.
wimbledon.com
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