This story is from October 25, 2016

Sania Mirza aiming to defend title and top ranking in Singapore

Sania Mirza chases results, the ranking, she says, takes care of itself.
Sania Mirza aiming to defend title and top ranking in Singapore
Sania Mirza chases results, the ranking, she says, takes care of itself.
SINGAPORE: Sania Mirza chases results, the ranking, she says, takes care of itself. “It’s a reflection of your wins and losses,” Sania, wearing a striking cocktail dress for the draw ceremony, said of her no.1 ranking which will be on the line this week. “I would rather focus on winning matches, doing what it takes to finish on the right side of the scoreline.”
The glamourous Hyderabadi, whose individual no.1 ranking in the women’s doubles, a position she’s held for 81 consecutive weeks, since April last year, will be part of the territory she defends this week in the WTA Finals.
A two-time defending champion with Cara Black in 2014 and with Swiss Martina Hingis last year when they emerged triumphant without dropping a set, the 29-year-old would like to claim ownership to the Singapore Indoor Stadium, where she’s yet to lose a match.
The heavy-striking Sania, who has won 20 titles in the last 25 months, has 7815 points, going into the season finale. She needs to finish one ahead of her immediate challengers to retain the no.1 ranking -- top-seeds French Open champions Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic (who have 7360 points) and the colourful American Bethanie Mattek-Sands with 6735 points --- all of who are in the top half of the draw. The Martina Navratilova trophy which comes with 1500 points could well belong to the year-end no.1.
The homestretch then promises a battle royal. Sania and Hingis, who parted ways in August, following a poor run in the summer, reunited in Singapore where they have trained together for a week, leading into their opening round engagement against the Chan sisters from Taipei Yung Jan and Hao Ching which will likely be played late on Friday.
“I think we’re professional enough to pick it up from where we left,” Hingis said, “and in a way, this break, will help us. When we arrived here last year, having won so much, we were expected to win, but this time there’s less pressure.” The Indian said of the split, which surprised many, as they were the top-ranked pair in the world at the time, was a professional decision, ‘sans any drama’. “There was nothing dramatic about it. We were not winning and we needed to fix that and we took whatever decision needed to be taken,” she said.

It worked well for Sania, who won three titles (Cincinnati, New Haven and Tokyo) and made a final (Wuhan), two of those titles coming with Czech Barbora Strycova, but the Indian said getting back with Hingis was easy. “We’ve just not played together for five weeks,” Sania said, “we were in sync almost from the first ball. We haven’t forgotten the chemistry we shared or the success we’ve had. It’s a tough draw, any team can win. It’ll be an interesting competition.”
DOUBLES DRAW: (KNOCKOUT)
(S-1) CAROLINE GARCIA-KRISTINA MLADENOVIC (FRA) vs (S-8) JULIA GOERGES (GER)-KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE).
(S-3) BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS (USA)-LUCIE SAFAROVA (CZE) vs (S-7) YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA (KAZ)-TIMEA BABOS (HUN).
(S-4) ELENA VESNINA-EKATERINA VESNINA (RUS) vs (S-5) ANDREA HLAVACKOVA – LUCIE HRDECKA (CZE).
(S-2) SANIA MIRZA (IND)-MARTINA HINGIS (SUI) vs (S-6) YUNG-JAN CHAN-HAO-CHING CHAN (TAIPEI).
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