Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis captured their third consecutive grand slam doubles title yesterday and extended their winning streak to 36 consecutive matches, leaving their opponents to call their run “insane”.
Mirza and Hingis, who have now won 12 titles together in nine months, beat Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6(1), 6-3 in the final in the Australian Open final yesterday.
The co-world No1s own the longest win streak since 1990, when Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won 44 matches in a row.
“Our fairytale continues. It’s amazing since winning Wimbledon. After that we only lost two more matches. It keeps going,” said Hingis after the win.
Mirza echoed her partner’s sentiments and says she is wowed by how they’ve been able to sustain such a high level.
“It’s very exciting, it’s what dreams are made of,” Mirza told Sport360. “We’re obviously very happy, but we were kind of surprising ourselves as well with the level that we’re playing. We feel like we’re working hard, we’re trying to keep that level up. To have three slams in a row is really a dream.”
And is she already thinking of four in a row?
“We’re going to try to focus on the 10 other tournaments we have to play before. And when we get there to Paris, sure we would love to win four in a row,” said the Indian star.
Hlavackova paid tribute to Hingis and Mirza, who have nicknamed their team “Santina”, saying they are forcing all the other teams to raise their level.
Asked about their winning streak, the Czech ex-world No3 in doubles, said: “That’s insane. I think it’s just going to give them more confidence, but also more pressure to keep that streak going…
“I think they’re just playing so solid, so strong in every aspect of the game and that’s why you have to bring your best level. We did that today. A couple of points here and there we would maybe get the first set and then the story is open.
“But it’s very good to have them. I think it’s helping women’s doubles, and it’s helping us as a team to get better and keep improving and working on our game.”
