Sania Mirza to Team up With Swiss Legend Martina Hingis
She started her year partnering Chinese Taipei's Su-Wei Hseih in the women's doubles, but barely two months after that, Sania Mirza has a new partner. She will be playing in the women's doubles with Swiss legend Martina Hingis.
The year 2014 was easily one of the most successful for Sania Mirza. The Hyderabadi Hurricane won her third Mixed Doubles Grand Slam title with Bruno Soares at the US Open, won an Asian Games Mixed Doubles gold with Saketh Myneni, and ended the year on a high as she won the year-ending WTA Championships with Cara Black.
But, after the veteran Zimbabwean decided to take a break from the game to focus on her family, Sania partnered Su Wei-Hseih of Chinese Taipei for the current season. The two were seeded 2nd in the year's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, where they made a second round exit.
ÂÂ
"My results with Hsieh have not been extraordinary in the 5 tournaments we played in since January", Sania told NDTV.
"Hsieh is not feeling comfortable while playing on the Advantage Court and feels she's struggling to make the adjustment. I tried playing on the backhand side in Doha and we did reach the final but I feel I am unable to play my best tennis from the Ad court when we are playing against the top teams of the world.
"I will now be partnering Martina, who is one of the most experienced players on the circuit and is an Ad court specialist as well."
ÂÂ
The Swiss legend, who made her second comeback to tennis a couple of years back, interestingly, has an Indian partner in the Mixed Doubles too. She won the 2015 Australian Open Mixed Doubles title with India's Leander Paes. Sania's current World ranking in women's doubles is 5th, while Hingis is ranked 7th in the world.