Sania Mirza, Martina Hingis Advance to Sydney International Final
Top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis came from a set down to beat Romanian Raluca Olaru and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the Sydney International semis.
Top ranked Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis survived a scare to win their 29th consecutive match as they advanced to the final of the Sydney International here on Thursday. (Click here for latest Tennis stories)
The Indo-Swiss pair won 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 against Romanian Raluca Olaru and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan on Court 1. They surpassed Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva's 1994 record of 28 straight victories. Sania and Martina are now eyeing the record for most consecutive wins set in 1990 by the dynamic duo of Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova, who won a whopping 44 matches.
They are eyeing their second win of the year together after winning in the Brisbane International last week. They claimed nine titles last year en route to being the top ranked women's doubles team, the highlight being wins at Wimbledon and US Open.
On Thursday, the top pair, dubbed "SanTina" by their fans, lost the first set 4-6 and were down 1-2 in the second set when rain intervened.
That helped them get back their rhythm as they fought back to overturn the deficit and claim the second set 6-3 and utilised their experience to claim the decider narrowly 10-8.
The win was viewed by the ecstatic pair as an ideal preparation for their Australian Open ambitions, starting next week, which will be their thier straight Grand Slam triumph should they are able to win it.
"It's good to have a tough test like this, this going into a Grand Slam. We don't always play super tennis but we come out, find a solution and now we're the best doubles pair in the world," Hingis said after the match.
"It seems like a long time since we lost!. One of helps each other out all the time. Even when we want to break a racquet, we have to shake it off," Sania said.