Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza along with her Swiss partner Martina Hingis won the Wimbledon women’s doubles final 5-7, 7-6, 7-5 against Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
The victory helped Sania become the first-ever female player from India to win a women’s doubles Grand Slam title.
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Sania’s Milestones
In an interesting coincidence it was at this very historic venue that Sania had won the women’s doubles junior Wimbledon championship with Russian partner Alisa Kleybanova in 2003.
Sania’s latest feat is an addition to her long list of firsts. In 2009, she became India’s first woman player to win a Grand Slam when she won the Australian Open with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi.
She later added French Open (2012 with Bhupathi) and US Open (2014 with Bruno Soares) to her mixed doubles collection.
Another Final, Same Opponents
Saturday’s final was the third instance in recent times that Sania and Hingis played the two Russian in a final --Indian Wells and Miami -- and asserted their supremacy.
It was a remarkable turnaround for the top seeds as they were trailing 2-5 in the deciding set but made a stunning comeback to reel off five straight games to clinch the trophy.
Sania was broken in the very first game of the match when Vesnina hit a volley winner from the net but the top seeds immediately broke Vesnina to avoid falling behind. It was a remarkable lob from Hingis that gave them two break chances and they converted the second.
Sania and Hingis put tremendous pressure on the their rivals but the two Russians responded well and it was 5-5.
Hingis was broken in the 11th game at love after a terrific rally of powerful groundstrokes from left-handed Makarova. Vesnina pounced on one return from the Swiss and hammered the volley winner close to the body of Sania.
Makarova served for the set and it was Vesnina’s smart play at the net that sealed them the opening set.
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