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Sania emerges sole doubles No 1 after Cincy victory
NEW DELHI: Every athlete nurses a dream — to reach the pinnacle of their sport. Look at American swimmer Ryan Murphy. He wrote down his dream of winning an Olympic
NEW DELHI: Every athlete nurses a dream — to reach the pinnacle of their sport. Look at American swimmer Ryan Murphy. He wrote down his dream of winning an Olympic medal when he was eight. When shuttler Saina Nehwal reached the top spot in the world rankings, she could barely believe the accomplishment, placing it just below the London bronze. And when Sania Mirza took up tennis, the dream she nursed was to be the best in the world.
Sania became the first Indian woman tennis player to reach the world No 1 ranking in doubles in April 2015. On Sunday, in Cincinnati, the sole ownership of the ranking came into the picture when Sania and former partner Martina Hingis, co-owners of the top spot, faced off in the doubles final.
FRESH START
In the first tournament after the ‘Santina’ partnership ended, both reached the final with their respective partners — Czech Barbora Strycova for the Indian and American CoCo Vandeweghe for the Swiss.
The Indo-Czech duo fought tooth and nail. Trailing 1-5, 15-40 in the first set, they stormed back to claim the title in style at 7-5, 6-4, securing Sania’s hold over the No 1 spot for the 71st consecutive week.
“I’m not going to lie; it’s a very difficult situation. It’s not easy because we are still good friends. The first tournament after we split and we come and we have to play each other. But there is no better match to play than the final, so it was difficult for both of us,” said Sania after the victory over Martina and CoCo.
After all, ‘Santina’ were trailblazers, winning 14 titles, including three Majors, and the WTA Finals. They also had a win streak of 41 matches, the longest since 1990.
IMPRESSIVE START
Sania and Strycova have paired beautifully. Playing together for the first time, they defeated three tough opponents and then the reigning champions, the Chan sisters from Chinese Taipei, in the semis. Strycova, who won bronze in Rio with Lucie Safarova, had felt they would combine well when Sania approached her. “She plays the kind of tennis I like; she goes for it and I will be at the net. I think we’ll be a good team,” the Czech had said.
Sania has held on to the No 1 spot for now after her 38th doubles title but the ranking will again be on the line with the US Open starting next week. The 29-year-old stands 11th on the all-time list of total weeks at the top, and fifth on the all-time consecutive weeks at No 1. She has no intentions of slowing down just yet, only the eagerness to rewrite record books.
