Martina Hingis wins first WTA doubles title in 7 years at Sony Open

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Former World No 1 Martina Hingis won her first title in seven years when she partnered Sabine Lisicki to win the Women's Doubles at the Sony Open in Miami.


Hingis and Lisicki, who entered the tournament as a wild-card entry, beat second seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 4-6, 6-4, 10-5.


The final was the first for the 33-year-old Hingis since she came out of retirement last year to play doubles and was her first win since Doha in 2007.


The Swiss veteran and her German partner won the last seven points of the deciding super tiebreaker to take the trophy.


On their way to the final, Hingis and Lisicki beat sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova and fifth seeds Cara Black and Sania Mirza.


Hingis has now claimed three Key Biscayne titles following wins in 1998 and 1999 with Jana Novotna as her partner.


After almost six years in retirement, Hingis returned to the doubles tour in 2013, playing five WTA events alongside Daniela Hantuchova.


After the US Open she didn't play for another six months but got back in the game at Indian Wells alongside Lisicki earlier this month.


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How awesome is it that 7 years later she comes back and wins a WTA doubles title.

Congrats Martina & Sabine, well done!.

Hopefully this win will spur her on, and she enters a few more doubles tournaments with Sabine in the months to come. 

 Maybe even at Wimbledon :).

Martina Hingis & Sabine Lisicki talk having fun in doubles at Sony Open

Martina Hingis & Sabine Lisicki in the finals of Sony Open doubles in Miami!

Tennis: Former world no.1 Martina Hingis booked her place in the first WTA tour final after 7 years as she partnered Sabine Lisicki of Germany to beat Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Sania Mirza of India in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinal of Sony Open in Miami.


This is the first time that Hingis has reached the final of a WTA tournament, since making her comeback last year. She had not even won consecutive two matches before this tournament.


Hingis had played 5 tournaments with Daniela Hantuchova last year but could only win 3 matches in 5 tournaments. She did not play any tournament after US Open but returned last week at Indian Wells with a different partner.

She and Sabine Lisicki lost in the first round at Indian Wells but here in Miami, in the first round they defeated No.6 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova. They also saved seven match points in their quarterfinal win over Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova a few days ago.


Hingis is now through to the 52nd WTA doubles final of her career, going 37-14 in her first 51. But perhaps more importantly it's her first WTA doubles final since returning to the doubles tour last year - her last WTA doubles final came at Doha in 2007 (where she won the title with Maria Kirilenko).

Lisicki is through to the fourth WTA doubles final of her career and is 2-1 in her first three.


The second semifinal will take place later in the night session, as No.2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina face No.8 seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears for a spot in Sunday's final.


tennisworldusa.org

Seems like this partnership is working out a lot better then her doubles stint with Hantuchova. Good luck ladies! :).

Martina Hingis reaches Sony Open doubles semis in Miami

Four-time Sony Open Champion Martina Hingis, who won two titles each in singles and doubles, had a flair for drama when she dominated women's tennis in the late 1990s.


But it's not likely that she ever produced anything quite as dramatic as she and doubles partner Sabine Lisicki did on Wednesday at the 2014 Sony Open Tennis in a thrilling quarterfinal match that included battling back from 7 match points, before they defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues andYaroslava Shvedova 3-6, 7-6(7) and 10-7 in a match defining super tiebreak.


"I don't ever think I had a match like this," said Hingis, adding that the tension and match points saved will undoubtedly lead to more confidence for the pairing. "You start to thrive on it."


Hingis, whose 2 singles titles (1997, 2000) sandwiched her doubles titles (1998, 1999) at the Sony, led an improbable comeback starting at 4-5 in the second set and 15-40 down. Hingis-Lisicki won three straight points to even the match at 5-5. At deuce in that game, Medina Garrigues hit a volley that was called out. After a challenge, replay showed that the volley missed by mere millimeters. "It missed by a hair," said Hingis.


The pair would turn away another two match points at 5-6 down and then two more in the 2nd set tiebreaker before defeating their opponents in a third-set super tiebreaker to win the match. Medina Garrigues and Shvedova had not lost a set coming into the quarterfinal.


Hingis and Sabicki, who were given a wildcard to enter the doubles tournament, are now into the Sony Open semifinals with Hingis only two matches away from winning her third Sony Open Tennis doubles title and her fifth overall. Hingis has already done better at the Sony Open than in her previous six tournaments since making her latest return to professional tennis.


The five-time singles Grand Slam winner and nine-time doubles Grand Slam champion has come out of retirement several times since first leaving the game in 2003. When asked if success at the Sony Open would lead to a repeat pairing at the Grand Slams, Hingis said she wasn't looking that long term. "I know we play Friday," she said.


Hingis and Lisicki have known each other since the latter was 10 years old and she traveled to Switzerland to practice with Hingis' mother. Lisicki said the friendship they share helps their chemistry on court. " We play great doubles together and have fun. That's why we are in the semis," said last year's Wimbledon finalist.


http://www.sonyopentennis.com/

Nishikori ends Roger Federer's run at Sony Open in Miami

One day after saving four match points to upset World No. 4 David Ferrer, Japan’s Kei Nishikori once again showed his tenacity to defeat another Top 5 player, Roger Federer, at the Sony Open Tennis on Wednesday night. Nishikori twice rallied from a break down in the second set, coming back to defeat the two-time Miami champion 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

"Feeling good, of course, to beat Roger," said Nishikori. "I thought I really played well, especially in the third. I was hitting both deep and striking well. Everything was going well. There [were a] couple of tough moments, but I was fighting through and happy to win today."

With the victory, he denied Federer a place in his 50th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final and a rematch with World No. 2 Novak Djokovic. Federer had lost to Djokovic two weeks ago in the BNP Paribas Open final. Djokovic ended Andy Murray’s title defence with a 7-5, 6-3 win earlier Wednesday, and is unbeaten in 10 matches.

Federer had lost just 18 points on serve through his first three matches and continued the impressive trend early on against the 20th-ranked Nishikori, building a 4-1 lead with a love service game. He played a shaky seventh game to drop serve for the first time in the tournament, but broke right back and clinched the set after 34 minutes.

Nishikori refused to be counted out despite twice falling behind a break at 1-2 and 3-4 in the second. He hit back in the next service games and then broke Federer to send the match to a decisive set.

Nishikori failed to take advantage of two break points in the fourth game of the third set, but broke on his third match point opportunity in the final game to claim victory after two hours and eight minutes.

It was his second straight victory over Federer, whom he defeated last May in Madrid. He now edges ahead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, 2-1, with his 11th win over a Top 10 player.

Nishikori has also split his two previous meetings with Djokovic. He triumphed in their last meeting in the 2011 Basel semi-finals as he blanked the Serbian in the third set.

"He's playing well, no doubt," said Nishikori. "I played him a long time ago, maybe three or four years ago in Basel, and I beat him before, so hopefully I can play good like today."

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Martina Hingis & Sabine Lisicki win Miami doubles opener

Former world number one Martina Hingis and her German partner Sabine Lisicki produced a stunning performance at the Women's Tennis Association's Premier event in Miami, en route their 6-1, 6-4 win over sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova in the opening round here.


Earlier, this month, the duo had failed to perform at the recently concluded tournament in Indian Wells, where they went down fighting to Australian twosome of Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-4, 6-7, 10-6 in the first round itself.


Meanwhile, the unseeded pairing of Serbia's Ana Ivanovic and Belgian Kirsten Flipkens also suffered a shocking loss, going down 5-7, 4-6 to Janette Husarova and Iveta Melzer in the other opening-round clash.

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Roger Federer breezes into the quarters at Sony Open in Miami

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- He first came to Miami as a 14-year-old, part of a Swedish junior contingent that stayed for a month.


His last event as a junior was the 18-and-under Orange Bowl in 1998, when he beat future professionals


Jurgen Melzer, David Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria on the way to the championship. In 1999, playing for the first time here as a pro, the wild card was ushered from the Miami tournament in the first round.


Hard to believe, but this is Roger Federer's 15th appearance at the tournament now called Sony Open Tennis.


"Used to stay at South Beach when I was younger," Federer said a few days ago. "Enjoyed that atmosphere. I have moved away from there since."


Now, of course, he's beyond all that swirling vortex of party. Federer is the father of 4-year-old twins and, at the age of 32, a 17-time Grand Slam champion. He's stayed in Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, even the downtown Brickell section.


"I kind of get around a bit," Federer said. "It's always enjoyable coming back."


Last year, in an effort to streamline his schedule, Federer passed on Miami after 14 straight visits.


Tuesday, on a bruising day of rain and wind, he was back, scalding No. 9 seed Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-2 in less than 50 minutes. Federer saved the only break point he faced and broke the Frenchman five of six times.


"Today was the first time I felt good going into a match," Federer said, later citing his previous awkward opponents, Ivo Karlovic and qualifier Thiemo De Bakker. "Things went well. Pretty straight forward, really.


"I definitely think I'm playing really good tennis right now, which is encouraging."


Unless, of course, you are Kei Nishikori, who will meet Federer in Wednesday's quarterfinals. They have split two previous matches but are frequent practice partners. Federer said Nishikori's three-set win over David Ferrer caught the attention of his fellow professionals.


"Everybody watched in the locker room and the player restaurant," Federer said. "It was one of those thrilling end to matches, into the tiebreaker with [four] match points saved. It had the whole drama.


"Clearly, I think it's an advantage at this point now that I had a quick match today and he had a really brutal [three-hour] match against Ferrer. Can I take advantage of it? Can he recover quickly? We will see tomorrow."


Coming into Day 7 at Sony Open Tennis, guess which ATP player had the most victories for the season: It was Federer, with a robust record of 21-3.


Djokovic knows this as well as anyone. He lost to Federer in the semifinals at Dubai and then needed a third-set tiebreaker to take the title at Indian Wells.


"I think he's playing in a high level this year," Djokovic said here last week. "He's back to his normal level, the level that he had for seven, eight years while he was so dominant in men's tennis. Obviously, last season he was not as good, for his standards."


Federer won Wimbledon in 2012, his most recent major, but last year he began to show his age. He lost in the second round at Wimbledon, where he is a seven-time champion, and fell in the fourth round at the US Open. The last time he had two Grand Slam results like that was a decade earlier.


The only title he won in 2013 was the modest, little event on grass in Halle, Germany. At times, he looked uncomfortable on the court and, subsequently, he explained why: His back, which has been a growing issue in recent years, restricted his movement significantly.


This year, he says he's healthy again and has two new components in his game: Stefan Edberg as his coach, and a slightly larger Wilson racket. Edberg, a six-time Grand Slam champion, has Federer thinking more aggressively; he seems to be coming to net more often.


The racket has given him a little more pop, particularly on his one-handed backhand -- the side that Nadal and Djokovic have exploited in recent years.


He started quickly, reaching the final at Brisbane before losing to No. 60-ranked Lleyton Hewitt and going out in straight sets to Nadal in the semifinals at the Australian Open.


But a fourth-round win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Melbourne, followed by a quarterfinals success over Andy Murray was encouraging. After helping Switzerland to a Davis Cup win over Serbia, Federer ran the table in Dubai -- beating Djokovic and Tomas Berdych in the process.


"This year, he started strong," Djokovic said. "I can feel that he's striking the ball very cleanly. He's very confident on the court, and he has improved his backhand, I think. Maybe it's the racket or something else, but he definitely has more depth on that shot. He's going more for his top spins, rather than slicing it. With his immense experience and success that he had in his career, he's never to be ruled out.


"Doesn't matter how old he is. It's just a number. As he was saying, he feels good on the court. He's definitely one of the best players in the world now."


Again.


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