Tennis News

SYDNEY, Australia – Top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were trailing by a set and a break when rain interrupted their semifinal match with Yaroslava Shvedova and Raluca Olaru, but turned the tables upon resumption to win, 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 to capture a 29th straight match.

Team SanTina have not lost a match since the Western & Southern Open late last summer, and the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions have now surpassed Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva’s 1994 record of 28 straight victories and have now begun to chase an even bigger record. Back in 1990, the dynamic duo of Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won a whopping 44 matches in a row.

“This is something that I dreamed about and I was hoping for,” Hingis told press after the match. “I can only say it over and over again: It’s something that’s a priority. When I was playing singles, singles was the priority. I became No.1 there. For a time, I was No. 1 in both.

“Now I put 100% or 120% into this, and I think I that’s what makes us this great doubles team. The chemistry is amazing. We don’t always play super tennis, but we come out and find a solution. I think that’s what makes us right now the best doubles in the world.”

“Today the girls we were playing, they were playing probably the best I’ve seen them play,” Mirza added. “Slava has won Slams before, and Olaru was playing really well. We had to really put everything that we had and really come out with our A Game when we needed to, especially in that supertiebreak.

“It’s not like because we’ve been winning so much we take it for granted really. We try every time. We’re the hunted. Everyone plays their best against us, and we have to keep playing our best as well to win.”

With titles at the Apia International Sydney and the Australian Open, SanTina could move their streak up to 36 straight, and would likely need at least another two titles to come close to passing such an elusive record.

In the meantime, the top seeds will face the winner of the second semifinal between No.3 seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia, and the No.2 seeds, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan. The Chan sisters are the last women to defeat Hingis and Mirza together in Cincinnati, but have fallen to the pair four times since then.

The singles matches, however, weren’t able to survive the ensuing rain storms that soaked Sydney. Top seed Simona Halep led Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-4 while qualifier Monica Puig had a massive 4-0 lead on Belinda Bencic before both matches were canceled – to resume on Friday.

“It's good to have a tough test like this this going into a Grand Slam” #Hingis on match today #SydneyTennis pic.twitter.com/nNFqKi8Yne

— Apia Intl Sydney (@SydneyTennis) January 14, 2016

Petra Kvitova finds herself caught at the crossroads of two tennis eras – but she quite likes it that way.

The big hitting lefty is not quite in the generation of WTA veterans like Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams. But in turn, she’s not in the crowd of new stars likes Garbiñe Muguruza, Simona Halep and fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova who are fast on the rise. Kvitova remains the first and only Grand Slam winner – male or female – born in the 90s.

How does the two-time Wimbledon champion feel about being the most accomplished member of this ‘in between’ group?

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Kvitova told China’s CCTV in Shenzhen. “I know that Serena has been there for a long time – she’s still the biggest champion that we have. And the younger generation is coming up and they are pushing us a lot. I think it’s good that we can see many [new] faces playing so well.

“There’s room in tennis right now – it’s very open. It’s nice to compete and not really be expecting who can win. It’s more difficult and less predictable this way.”

Kvitova experienced first-hand the unpredictability of the emerging younger generation: at last year’s Australian Open, she was stunned by a then 19-year-old Madison Keys in the third round.

The Australian Open is Kvitova’s toughest major: her best results in Melbourne have been an appearance in the quarterfinal in 2011 and in the semifinal in 2012. But if she could choose which of the four slams she’d like to win, the Czech is up for the challenge.

“If I could have another Grand Slam, I would pick either the Australian Open or the French Open,” she said. “At the Australian Open, the hard courts, I just love that Grand Slam a lot. I feel so relaxed in Australia.”

To make that wish come true, Kvitova is facing an uphill climb. She was forced to withdraw from Shenzhen in her first round match and later from Sydney – where she was the defending champion – due to a stomach virus. The last time she played a complete match was at the Fed Cup final, when she helped propel the Czech Republic to victory more than two months ago.

If Kvitova can shake off the off-season rust and beat her lingering illness, the Czech is poised for a deep run in Melbourne – as long as she can make it past the initial hurdles and build up the confidence she needs.

“I don’t really like the beginning of the tournaments, for sure,” Kvitova said. “But that’s how it is – it’s probably normal that I’m improving my game with each match in a tournament.

“And then when the finish line comes, I’m feeling better about my game.”