Hingis, Mirza win third successive doubles title
Top-seeded Swiss-Indian pair wins Wuhan Open, its seventh doubles title of the year; Venus wins singles title.
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza beat Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu in straight sets to win the Wuhan Open doubles final.
The winning duo dropped serve three times and had to fight back from a 2-0 deficit in the second set, but the top-seeds Hingis and Mirza won 6-2, 6-3.
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The Swiss-Indian pairing have seven WTA doubles titles this year and have won their last three tournaments in a row – the US Open, Guangzhou and Wuhan – and 13 straight matches.
Meanwhile, Venus Williams won the singles title when her Spanish opponent and fifth-seeded Garbine Muguruza retired with a left ankle injury while trailing 6-3, 3-0.
It was the unseeded Williams’ 47th WTA singles title.
“Well, this is a sad day today,” said Muguruza.
“I’m very sorry I had to retire today, but I had a really amazing week here in Wuhan. Also, I really want to congratulate Venus. She’s always such a tough player and she had an amazing week, as well. For sure we’ll play again soon, and it’s going to be a tough match, of course.”
Williams had to rally from 5-3 down in the third set of the quarterfinals to beat British qualifier Johanna Konta, and she saved a match point during a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) semifinal win over Roberta Vinci.
“I probably didn’t have a lot of chances if you were feeling well,” Williams told Muguruza.
“I know you had a tough match yesterday – it’s not easy when you don’t play your best.”
The eighth-ranked Muguruza will move to a career-high fifth in the rankings on Monday and is close to a qualifying position in this month’s WTA season finals in Singapore. Had she won the title, Muruguza would have reached fourth in the world and assured herself a qualifying spot.
Williams had not played in an elite Premier-level final for five years since winning Dubai in 2010; the former number one will jump 10 spots to 14th on the computer.
Venus, a former world number one, will rise to 14th in the rankings [Reuters] |