Kolkata: The onset of 2017 was pitchy enough for the Hyderabadi, Sania Mirza. While she won the Brisbane International with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, she also had to give up on her no. 1 ranking on the ATP charts to her partner owing to the victory.
Even after, Sania Mirza being ranked World No.1 since 2015, her gap of 330 points with Mattek-Sands signified this victory helped the American fulfil the gap.
Sania and Bethanie scored 6-2, 6-3 against the second-seeded Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the Brisbane International women’s doubles final. The position was taken over by Bethanie thus the trophy ended Sania’s 91-week reign as the world No.1 doubles player in the WTA rankings.
“I feel like I’m handing over the Miss World crown over to her. We go a long way back, the last time we played together we won Sydney and this year we have won Brisbane, so maybe we should play more often.” She added, “I think we should play a lot more. Thanks for playing with me. I was No.1 in the world but congratulations to her for becoming No.1 now. If not me, then her, she has had an amazing year.”
Sania had walked into the tournament as a defending champion, having won it with Swiss Martina Hingis last year. “We always have good matches (against Vesnina/Makarova). It’s great to come back as defending champion. Thank you to my partner and best friend.”
Sania, promisingly went through one of the most colorful phases in her career while playing with former singles World No.1 Martina Hingis. The duo won a number of Grand Slam titles. But the pair split in August, 2016. Sania tied up with Czech Barbora Strycova and had another successful year in 2016. She will return pairing with Czech Republic’s Barbora Strycova in Sydney the coming week and the Australian Open, beginning from January 16.
(With inputs from agencies)