Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis triumphed in an incredible 30-shot rally against Xu Shilin and You Xiaodi in the Guangzhou International Women's Open 2015. The duo defeated the unseeded Chinese pair 6-3, 6-1 and took just an hour and 12 minutes to complete the rout, without dropping a single set en route to the title. They played on hard court, a surface that has been very productive for the pair.
Mirza and Hingis have had a prolific partnership ever since the Indo-Swiss pairing was formed in March 2015. They have won six titles together which include two Grand Slams at Wimbledon and US Open.
The number one seeded Hingis and Mirza beat Anna-Lena Friedsam and Monica Niculescu in the quarters, 6-2, 6-3, and then Julia Glushko and Rebecca Peterson in the semis, 6-3, 6-4, before their most dominant performance in the final. The have now won six of 13 events they have played since joining forces in March - Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Wimbledon, the US Open and now Guangzhou.
They have also won three Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour events this year. In Indian Wells, they defeated Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in straight sets. They again beat the pair at the Miami Masters soon after. Their third WTA victory of the year came at the Family Circle Cup, where they demolished the Australian-Croat pair of Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak 6-0, 6-4.
Mirza was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna earlier this year by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee for services to sport. Hingis, for her part, has been part of five Grand Slam titles this year – three in the mixed doubles, partnering India’s Leander Paes. Hingis-Paes claimed victory at the Australian Open, followed by title wins at Wimbledon and the US Open – the last two of which Hingis-Mirza won as well.
Following the victory at Wimbledon, Mirza and Hingis climbed to the number 1 spot in the doubles rankings, which they currently hold.
