Sania-Hingis suffer heartbreak in Stuttgart Open final

Arun S Kaimal
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Top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis lost the chance to win their 14th title together after suffering a defeat against second seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the final of the Stuttgart Open. The French pair beat Sania and Hingis 2-6, 6-1, 10-6 to lift the title on Sunday.

After defeating unseeded duo of Sabine Lisicki and Lucie Safarova in straight sets in the semi-final on Saturday, World No.1 duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis reached their first final since February, hoping to win their 14th title together. However, the second-seeded French Pair pulled off a stunning win to upset the Australian Open champions.

Garcia and Mladenovic, who came into the tournament fresh from their first title together in Charleston, went a set down after Mirza and Hingis broke them twice. Although they led the “first service points won” by a small margin of 72%-61%, Garcia and Mladenovic struggled against the prowess of the top seeds and surrendered the opening game 2-6.

It was all looking easy for Mirza and Hingis in the middle, but the second seeds bounced back in the second set by taking it 6-1 in a one-sided affair. Garcia and Mladenovic broke the top seeds twice and dominated the first service to take the match to a decider. The French pair seemed the more aggressive of the two pairs and once again showed it in the decider and took it 10-6 to win the title. Garcia and Mladenovic struck 25 winners in the match (SanTina struck only 16) and took the trophy back home at the end of the gruelling contest, which lasted one hour and 21 minutes.  

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