Sania Mirza achieved yet another career milestone by capturing her 25th WTA doubles title as the Indian ace continued her dream start with Martina Hingis to win the Miami Open trophy on Sunday.
The top seeded Indo-Swiss pair overcame a sluggish start to take the title with a 7-5, 6-1 scoreline against second seeded Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. Sania is now within touching distance of the world No.1 ranking in doubles - just 145 points off the joint No.1 Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinici.
Sania and Hingis were trailing 2-5 in the opening set but regrouped and turned the tables on their fierce opponents by reeling off eight games in a row. They had beaten the same Russian team to win the Indian Wells - their first title together.
It has been an absolute dream start for Sania and Hingis as they are yet to lose a set since they began their partnership. "We just tried to keep telling each other to enjoy the struggle. Last week everything came very, very easily to us - we didn't lose more than four games in a set. Over here we were down, and we were panicking. It was like, 'Oh my God, we're not playing well.' We just weren't used to that," Sania said after the match.
Djoko beats Murray in final
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic continued his impressive run of form, winning the Miami Open over Andy Murray 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-0 at Key Biscayne on Sunday. The victory followed Djokovic's triumphs at the Australian Open and Indian Wells and was the Serb's fifth title at Miami. He has now beaten Murray in 10 straight matches on hard courts and has an 18-8 overall record against the Scot.
The contest was captivating for two sets but after Djokovic broke in the first game of the final set, he never looked back. “It was brutal. Very warm. I was prepared for a physical battle but it's one thing to prepare and another thing to experience it on court,” said Djokovic. “It is not the first time I have had this kind of battle with Andy. As I was expecting, there were very long rallies and I just managed to play the third set as I was supposed to. I am thrilled with this win.”
