French Open 2016 | Sania-Hingis off to winning start in Paris

The Indo-Swiss pair had won the Australian Open earlier this year, and currently hold all three Grand Slams except the French Open. They started their campaign strongly and dominated the big points, and that proved to be the difference, especially in the first set, with the top seeds being dominant on the return. With both sides breaking each other twice during the set, the set headed into a tie-break. “Santina” came into their own getting a couple of mini-breaks to take the tiebreaker, and the set, 7-6(7-4).

The second set was much more straight-forward. Neither side hit an ace throughout the set, but yet again the receiving points won made the difference. Sania-Hingis won over 55% of their return points, while the Russian duo managed only 33%. That helped the top seeds break the unseeded pairing thrice, who themselves could only manage one of their own. The set ended with a lopsided 6-2 scoreline as “SanTina” cruised into the second round. The Indo-Swiss pair will take on the winners of the 1st round clash between Karin Knapp-Mandy Minella and Nao Hibino-Eri Hozumi.