It was a struggle - their opponents, Julia Goerges and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik, served for the first set at 5-4, and, after losing that opening frame, they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set too. But the No.1-seeded Hingis and Mirza clawed back every time and eventually snuck it out, 7-6(3), 6-4.
Hingis and Mirza are now through to the quarterfinals of the Premier 5-level event, and by virtue of the result they'll overtake Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova to once again become the No.1 team on the Road To Singapore leaderboard, the journey to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Both teams have already qualified for the year-end championships, anyway.
Hingis and Mirza were trailing in the first set when the match was stopped for a rain delay.
"In this case the rain helped - we were able to regroup and regenerate, because we weren't playing that well in the first part of the match," Hingis told wtatennis.com afterwards. "And then after the rain, and with the wind slowing down, we were able to find our rhythm again. We were down a break at 4-3 but we suddenly recovered and were able to turn the first set around, and get in our groove again."
What did they do during the rain delay?
"I changed my clothes and just tried to stay warm," Hingis said.
"Then we warmed up again so we could get the adrenaline going again."
And having already qualified for the WTA Finals, does the No.1-ranked team in the world play less the rest of the year and save themselves a little bit, or is it still an all-out grind through Singapore?
"We already agreed on the tournaments we're playing prior to qualifying, so no," the Swiss said. "We're just being smart about it, playing the tournaments we want to play, and just trying to enjoy them.
"This week is our preparation for the US Open, another big one coming up."
Most importantly? "We just want to go out there and challenge ourselves, and enjoy ourselves."
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