Martina Hingis and partner Sania Mirza produced a stirring fightback to claim the Wimbledon women’s doubles title under the Centre Court roof lights on Saturday, July 11.
The 34-year-old former Swiss Miss, who won the singles in 1997 and has returned to the doubles circuit with great success after coming out of retirement, held her serve to seal a 5-7 7-6(4) 7-5 win over Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
The match had been stopped at 5-5 in the third set to allow the roof to be shut as darkness fell on the All England Club.
Mirza was playing her first doubles final at Wimbledon while former world single’s number one Hingis has lifted the trophy before with Helena Sukova in 1996 and Jana Novotna in 1998.
“This is above my expectations,” Hingis told reporters. “I had a great partner to pull me through. It takes guts and courage being 5-2 down in the third set. Couldn’t have asked for more drama,” she said.
Scores of messages and greetings poured in from India after Mirza’s Wimbledon win. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee also congratulated the lady-duo for their spectacular performance.
Earlier Dutch-Romanian duo Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau won the men’s doubles beating Andy Murray’s older brother Jamie and John Peers of Australia 7-6(5) 6-4 6-4.
Rojer and Tecau, the fourth seeds, were playing in their first grand slam final as a pair.
Feature image source: Reuters