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Melbourne, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis overwhelmed Czech seventh seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (1), 6-3 to win the Australian Open crown here on Friday. It was the world No. 1 doubles team’s 36th consecutive win and third straight Grand Slam victory after winning Wimbledon and the US Open last year. They also won the year-ending Women’s Tour Association (WTA) Finals last year.
The Sania-Martina juggernaut, that began rolling in August last year, showed no signs of halting at the Melbourne Park. They continued their supreme form and grabbed their eighth successive title, and 12th overall, in 109 minutes.
It was Sania’s second Australian Open title. She first won the mixed doubles title in 2009 with Mahesh Bhupathi. Sania, 29, has now six Grand Slam titles to her credit. It was 35-year-old Martina’s 12th women’s doubles title.
The first set was keenly contested, and it took Sania and Martina 62 minutes to pocket it. The Indo-Swiss pair hit 17 winners, one less than their opponents, and committed 17 unforced errors, one more than them. But they won 50 of the total 96 points played in the first set.
Each point was fiercely fought as several long rallies were played. The set went the full distance and Sania-Hingis were at their dominant best in the tie-break, clinching it 7-1.
They carried the momentum into the second set and broke immediately to jump to a 2-0 lead, converting their second break point. The world No. 1 team then increased the pressure and broke again, in the fifth game, to jump to a commanding 4-1 scoreline.
But the Czech pair refused to go down without a fight and promptly broke back to make it 5-3. But it only spurred Sania-Martina as they closed out the contest in the next service game.
