Wimbledon 2015: Sania Mirza, Leander Paes a win away from another Grand Slam title
Sania Mirza set herself up for her first ever women’s doubles Grand Slam title while seasoned pro Leander Paes is now one win away from his 16th Major trophy as the two Indians reached the Wimbledon finals with their respective partners, in London on Friday.
Sania and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis, the top seeds, hammered the fifth seeded American pair of Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 6-1 6-2 in the lop-sided semifinal which lasted mere 56 minutes.
Later, Hingis joined hands with Paes to reach the mixed doubles final with a convincing 6-3 6-4 win over top seed Americans Mike Bryan and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Paes and Hingis, who won the Australian Open early this year, saved five of the six break chances and broke their rivals thrice in the semifinal, that lasted one hour and 12 minutes.
Paes is a winner of eighth men’s doubles Grand Slam titles and seven mixed doubles.
Sania has reached the final of a women’s doubles Grand Slam final only second time in her career, having ended runners-up at the 2011 French Open with Russian partner Elena Vesnina.
They had lost the summit clash to Czech team of Andrea Hlavácková and Lucie Hradecká.
Sania has won three mixed doubles Grand Slam trophies. She won Australian Open (2009) and French Open (2012) with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi and the US Open with Brazilian Bruno Soares last year.
In Friday’s match, Sania and Hingis yet again dominated the contest as they broke their rivals twice in each set and saved all three breakpoints they faced.
They scored 59 points to just 33 of their rivals. Sania and Hingis, who have three WTA doubles titles together — Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston — are now through to their first Grand Slam doubles final together.
Hingis has a 9-3 record in Grand Slam doubles finals – she has four Australian Opens, two French Opens, two Wimbledons and a US Open to her name.
They will fight it out with second seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who battled past fourth seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 4-6 6-4.
