Sania-Hingis storm into semis at Madrid Open
World No.1 doubles pair Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis entered the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday after a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 win over the Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. The Indo-Swiss pair made easy work of the 6th seeds, winning the match in only 62 minutes.
In what was their third meeting, Mirza-Hingis continued their good record against Hlavackova-Hradecka having previously beaten them twice with the latest win coming in the Australian Open final.
Seeded #1, Sania-Hingis looked to be in control of the match from the start serving well and breaking their opponents’ serve at will. But, as has been the trend in women’s doubles tennis, neither side won too many first serve points, but the top seeds edged out their Czech opponents 39% to 25% through the course of the match. However, it was the on the big points that “SanTina” dominated, not only saving all three break points they faced, but also breaking their opponents serve thrice in five attempts.
After their Australian Open crown earlier this year, Mirza-Hingis have gone through a rough patch with early exits in Miami and Indiana Wells before losing the Stuttgart Open final less than two weeks back. The win in the quarters means the top seeds will now play Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva in the semi-finals later on Friday night. The American-Russian pairing had upset the Indo-Swiss pair in the BNP Paribas Open earlier this year, and the world #1 pairing would be looking to avenge that loss and reach the final.
