Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis are turning
into quite the renaissance act, perhaps even the very best we have seen in
recent memory. After a couple of Grand Slam titles in quick succession, the
remainder of the season is about icing their already substantial cake. If their
inexorable march to the title in Guangzhou is any indication, they seem intent
on keeping the party going long into the night.
Only a few years ago, neither woman was
really painting the charts anywhere on the WTA. Sania was tending to her
bruised body, often wondering if it was even worth sustaining her middling
career. A wrist surgery in 2010 and her subsequent marriage left Sania hardly
playing any tennis for over six months.
Meanwhile, Hingis was happy traveling the
world and playing some minor league team tennis to keep herself occupied in an
on and off retirement cycle. But her adrenal glands were overflowing again and
being on the sidelines was beginning to constantly gnaw at her less than
satiated soul. She was already into her 30s though and given her physical
limits, the only real chance of her coming back rested on playing doubles.
Sania herself had decided it was enough,
when she made an inspired decision in the summer of 2012, to abandon her
singles aspirations in favour of prolonging her career. Even though she enjoyed
a decent run on the tour with Bethanie Mattek-Sands (2013) and Cara Black
(2014), her only taste of Grand Slam glory came from mixed doubles.
Even as Sania and Cara called time on
their partnership, the Indian decided to play 2015 in the company of Taipei's
Su-Wei Hsieh. Still unable to make a forceful decision about her commitment to
tennis, Hingis was dabbling in it with a multitude of partners - Sabine Lisicki
and Flavia Pennetta being her main collaborators.
But Martina's success with Leander Paes at
the Australian Open combined with some poor results for Sania-Hsieh seemed to
have colluded to create a combination that is threatening to take women's
doubles to a whole new level. Sania's split with Hsieh came at an opportune
moment on the tennis calendar.
As the duo came together for the first
time in March, their magic seemed very apparent. The results were immediate and
forceful - the duo defeated the seasoned combination of Ekaterina Makarova and
Elena Vesnina in back to back events at Indian Wells and Miami to announce the
coming storm. Sania's power from the back-court and Hingis's finesse at the net
were turning into an irresistible potion for their flummoxed opponents.
As they arrived at Wimbledon, the crack
duo had already won three tournaments and reached the finals in Rome. An
unexpected loss in the quarter-finals of the French Open left the two women
hungry for more as they transported their craft and tools to the English
meadows.
The classic finale in London when the duo
locked horns with Makarova and Vesnina again, underlined their commitment to
the partnership and their own second coming. The Indo-Swiss duo survived a
Makarova service game at 3-5 in the final set to clinch a nerve wracking 5-7,
7-6, 7-5 victory.
The team's brilliance on the court is
fueled by a cocktail designed to make the most of their individual talents.
Sania can mount her beastly assault from the chosen comfort of the deuce court,
knowing that Hingis is more than happy producing some instinctive brilliance
off the advantage court.
Sania's discomfort on the ad court was one
of the main reasons for her split with Hsieh, who was adamant about living on
the deuce court.
As much as this was Sania Mirza 2.0 and
Martina Hingis 3.0, the two players were clearly not content with making up the
numbers. Martina's guile with the volley and a strong backhand were playing
ideal complements to the ferocious forehand of Sania.
"It feels like I'm doing it all over
again," acknowledged Hingis. "But I'm not thinking, 'Okay, the last
time was 18 years ago.' What counts for me is right now, today, in this moment.
I know I have the support and the trust that I have for her shots and for her
game, and it builds up every time we step out together."
"We try to help each other out if the
other one is struggling," explained Sania. "That's kind of the
key,"
Victory at Wimbledon provided Hingis-Mirza
with an aura that was unshakeable. And they carried it with them across the
Atlantic. As they bludgeoned their way through the draw, they faced their
stiffest battle in the quarters.
But from 0-5 down in the first set, the
two women won 13 of the remaining 15 games to pummel the Chan sisters into
submission. In the seventy minute final, Hingis and Mirza conceded just six
games to Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova.
The fourth seeded pair was nearly reduced
to a prop on the grand stage, as the world No.1 team marched to their second
straight Grand Slam title, this time without losing a set. In fact they lost a
miserly 26 games through the tournament.
No two women have enjoyed a greater
renaissance in modern tennis, as have Martina and Sania. They seem eager to
decorate their partnership with unabated success. So they will go to Wuhan this
week, with their eyes wide open, but their heart set on that voyage to Singapore.
Sania was writing an epitaph to her
partnership with Black when the duo won the Finals in 2014. Hingis-Mirza will
reach the finals in October, aware that victory will serve to accentuate their
credentials as the doubles combination that rules women's tennis. Only this
time around, it could be the beginning of a new chapter in women's doubles.
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