Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta won their first WTA doubles title together at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and continued their late push for Singapore.
WUHAN, China - Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta continued their late charge for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, winning their first WTA doubles title as a team at the Premier-level Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open with a victory over Cara Black and Caroline Garcia.
Hingis and Pennetta looked fresh early on, and understandably so - they only played two full matches in four rounds going in, winning one by retirement and another by walkover. And both of their wins came in straight sets, too. The No.6-seeded Swiss-Italian combo stormed out to a 6-4, 5-3 lead.
The No.8-seeded Black and Garcia came alive from there, though. They fought off four match points en route to sneaking out the second set, 7-5, and built all kinds of leads in the ensuing match tie-break, like 4-1, 6-3, and - after losing those leads - even bringing up two match points up 9-8 and 10-9.
But Hingis and Pennetta fought both of those off, including a fantastic Pennetta backhand volley into the corner on the second one, and with one last big serve they closed it out, 6-4, 5-7, 12-10.
Hingis and Pennetta's best results in four previous tournaments together were runner-up finishes at Eastbourne and the US Open, and they finally made it fifth time lucky here with their first WTA doubles title as a partnership. It was Hingis' 39th individual WTA doubles title and Pennetta's 16th.
And so their late push for the WTA Finals in Singapore continues - currently No.12 on the Road To Singapore doubles leaderboard, they will move just outside the Top 8 after this tournament. And with the Top 8 qualifying for the WTA's crown jewel event, they're coming alive at just the right time.
Hingis and Pennetta, both former World No.1s in doubles, spoke to the crowd after their win.
"We got a little bit tight in the end of the second set, but that's normal in a final," Pennetta said. "It was just amazing to play doubles with Martina again. She's a great partner and a great person. "Our first time in Wuhan was amazing. Everything was perfect. We really enjoyed our week."
"First, I want to say Xie Xie Wuhan," Hingis - who was saying thank you - started her speech with, drawing cheers from the crowd. "I really want to thank everybody for coming out here for the final. "There aren't many places I can say I'm coming to for the first time in my 20 years of playing. And I really loved this tournament. I really enjoyed every moment. It's just been a fantastic week. "The city is really pretty and it was just a wonderful event."
Hingis and Pennetta will now head to Beijing for the China Open, where they are the No.8 seeds.
La storia di semifinale e finale di Wuhan è molto semplice: in semifinale hanno vinto una solida Hingis e una grande Pennetta; in finale si sono invertiti gli aggettivi: solida Pennetta, e grande Hingis.La somma algebrica porta allo stesso risultato.
Nel primo set sono emersi due fatti: Garcia "unbreakable", grazie ad un servizio ottimo per velocità, piazzamento e percentuali. Al servizio, punto debole la Black, che infatti ha subito il break al suo primo turno di servizio, e ha tenuto con una certa difficoltà il secondo.
Il secondo set si apre con un break subito da Garcia (sarà l'unico del match), ma purtroppo anche Flavia, subito dopo, concederà il contro-break. Il finale del secondo set è giocato male sia da Flavia che da Martina. Sul 3/3 Flavia si fa breakkare per la seconda volta nel set. Sul successivo servizio della Black, 15/30, Flavia ha un calcio di rigore a porta vuota, che se trasformato avrebbe portato a tre consecutive palle del controbreakl, ma affossa la volée sulla rete. Nel 12° game Hingis, che non ha mai perso il servizio, lo perde a 15, e il secondo set va via 5/7.
Il match tie-break comincia come peggio non si potrebbe: con un passivo di 1/4 che - pur essendo determinato da un solo mini-break, non lascia tranquilli affatto. Solo al 13° punto le nostre recuperano il mini-break, ma dopo il terzo cambio di campo altro mini-break subito, ma subito recuperato. Le nostre, dopo aver avuto ben quattro "championship-balls non sfruttate nel secondo set, dovranno fronteggiarne due (8/9 e 9/10). Ma a questo punto, le nostre infileranno tre punti consecutivi (fra cui due grandi giocate di Flavia), e finalmente - mentre mi scolavo il secondo litro di valeriana - la "strana coppia" raggioungeva il pèreziodo 12/10. Punto, partita, incontro e torneo
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