Second Grand Slam title this year for duo, after Wimbledon win.
By Sujeet Rajan
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FLUSHING MEADOWS, NEW YORK: Top seeds Sania Mirza of India and Martina Hingis of Switzerland crushed an off-color team of Casey Dellacqua, of Australia, and Yaroslava Shvedova, of Kazakhstan, the 4th seeds, in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 to win the 2015 US Open women’s doubles title at the Arthur Ashe Stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center here, on Sunday.
Mirza, 28, and Hingis, 34, had beaten Dellacqua and Shvedova in straight sets in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon this year, which they later went on to win defeating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 5–7, 7–6 (7–4), 7–5 in the final. That was Mirza’s first Grand Slam win.
For Mirza, this has been a landmark year. She had become the world number one player in the world in women’s doubles, prior to playing Wimbledon partnering Hingis.
Mirza had also won the WTA Finals in 2014, partnering Cara Black. Hingis is ranked number 2 in the world in the women’s doubles, at present.
For Hingis, who turns 35 later this month on September 30th, this was the 11th women’s doubles titles at the majors. She has four Grand Slam mixed doubles title, with three of them coming this year partnering Leander Paes; they missed out on the French Open. She has won five singles too at the majors.
In a way, what Serena Williams could not do, Hingis did with her twin triump at the US Open this year, winning four Grand Slam titles in all, in 2015; but which of course do not construe as a single year slam.
The final, which lasted an hour and 10 minutes, today, saw Mirza in excellent form, slamming booming forehands from the baseline which is her forte, and playing her part to perfection at the net, showing deft touch, to compliment her partner.
Mirza was broken in the fifth game of the first set, and did make some unforced errors late in the game, but the latter was anxiety with the trophy in sight, and trying to finish off the match off in a rush. Hingis was off-color with her serve, but Mirza bailed her out with strong play from the baseline, and clever lobs, which caught their opponents by surprise. Most long rallies were won by Mirza and Hingis.
Shvedova and Dellaqua also seemed to be overwhelmed by the final, nervy in crucial points, intimidated by their opponents; with the lurking suspicion that they were outmatched like in the Wimbledon quarterfinal tie. Their service games were below par; the duo never got into a rhythm to challenge their opponents.
In the first set, Mirza floundered only in the fifth game, when she lost serve with a double fault and an unforced error into the net, to be back on serve at 3-2. Other than that, she played stellar tennis. She began strongly with an impeccable service game to begin the match, and then served out the set with a forehand cross court winner, followed by a good second serve. The return was sharply angled away for a winner by Hingis waiting at the net. The first set took only 31 minutes.
The second set began on a similar note as the first, with Shvedova losing her service game, to go down a break. She did save triple break points, but it to no avail, as she and Dellacqua were made to run back repeatedly with some clever play by Mirza, who lobbed deep into open spaces, and Hingis did the rest at the net.
Mirza consolidated with some heavy groundstrokes to make it 2-0. The Aussie-Kazakhstan pair didn’t have much answer to Mirza’s shots, except trying to get it back onto court. Hingis, however, won most of the crucial points to keep up the relentless pressure.
Shevedova tried to change strategy in the second set by moving across the net to anticipate some of Hingis’ groundstrokes. That ploy was of little use against Mirza, who was steadfast in slamming winners with impunity, past stretched out rackets.
Mirza was especially severe in the seventh game of the second set, when she unleashed two winners in succession – a whipped backhand winner down the line, followed by a stunning forehand winner cross court – the latter was the shot of the match, to get the second break of the set. Her opponents could only stare bleakly at her, and then hung their heads down; defeat, they knew, as everybody watching could feel, was imminent. Those two winners set Mirza and Hingis at a commanding 5-2 lead, and a game away from the championship.
Though Hingis was broken to whittle the lead to 5-3, Shvedova’s serve came apart once again, in trying to save the match. Hingis finished off the match with an easy poach at the net to send a winner down the middle.
Shvedova has some busy days ahead of her: she was to get married yesterday, on Saturday, but postponed the nuptials. She now will reach Kazakhstan on Tuesday, get married on Wednesday, and then fly out again on Wednesday to play another tournament.
“We are happy to be the top seeds and come through,” said Mirza, at the presentation ceremony, where she and Hingis were handed a check for $570,000, which they will split.
“I do volley better than I used to,” said Hingis, asked as to how her game is different than from the late 1990s, when she used to partner Jana Novotna in the women’s doubles. “I don’t have to worry about the baseline game. I have Sania there.”