Mirza-Hingis power into China Open semifinals in spectacular fashion
Indo-Swiss pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis displayed why they are ranked as the number one doubles pair the world, as they powered into the semifinals of the China Open in Beijing with a tenacious fightback. The win brings up the fourth straight semifinal appearance for the duo, that started with their successful US Open campaign.
The top seeds staged a sensational comeback after being down 1-5 in the opening set to win the quarterfinal clash against Julia Goerges of Germany and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 6-4 in 80 minutes.
A day after they were stretched by the Italian duo of Sara Errani and US Open singles champion Flavia Pennetta in a top-drawer clash, Mirza and Hingis turned on the magic at Beijing’s Moon court by winning six straight games in breathtaking fashion to wrap up the first set.
Their surge clearly knocked the wind out of Pliskova and Goerges, a scratch doubles pair, but with a singles ranking of world number nine and world number 30 respectively.
The German-Czech combine took the set into tie-break, where they opened a two-point lead at 4-2. But a mix of good serves and net play saw the Indo-Swiss pair win four straight points to go 6-4 to eventually close it at 7-5.
The second set saw the teams trading two breaks. However, Mirza and Hingis broke their opposition in the ninth game to go up 5-4, before Mirza served out for the match.
The Indo-Swiss pair will meet either Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic or Chen Liang and Yafan Wang in the semifinals.
