Sania-Elena Win Doubles Title At Charleston

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

India’s Sania Mirza and Russia’s Elena Vesnina stopped fourth-seeded Americans Meghan Shaughnessy and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the doubles title in the Family Circle Cup in Charleston on Sunday. The Indo-Russian pairing, who won their first title together at Indian Wells three weeks ago with a win over the higher-rated American pairing, repeated the feat with a fighting performance in the title round.      The winning team shared $35,500 and 470 points for their week’s effort. In both sets, Sania and Vesnina took 5-1 and 4-0 leads and then allowed their opponents to close in before pulling through in 1 hour and 30 minutes. The Charleston win was Sania’s 11th doubles title.      In their post match press conference, the winners were asked how they complemented each other on the court. The 24-year-old Hyderabadi said, “It helps that we get along so well. If either one of us isn't playing well, you don't get angry at your friends. We've known each other for really long. We play better every day and understand each other's games better.”      Vesnina then showed how the complementing works. “I think Sania has the best forehand on the tour,” she said.”I'm not so sure,” Sania replied.      “I see the eyes of the player at the net who's guarding the ball from her forehand,” Vesnina continued, “They're thinking, 'Oh my God, no, the Mirza forehand!”      Sania added. “I think we've improved our volleys and are more confident too. With confidence you start to poach more and do stuff normal doubles players do.”      Sania moved up 17 places to the 73rd position in the latest WTA singles ranking. In the doubles, Sania moved up five places to the 29th position. In the doubles ranking race, Sania and Vesnina are in the sixth position. Sania, who flew out from the United States early on Monday, will celebrate her wedding anniversary in Dubai on April 12 after which she’ll take a couple of weeks off before returning to the Tour at the end of April to play the $4.5 million premier series event in Madrid. Among the men, India’s Somdev Devvarman dropped a place to the 72nd position in the latest ATP rankings.      In the doubles team ranking, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi continued to hold on to the top slot while Rohan Bopanna, dropped to the 16th position in the individual doubles ranking. However, the Indo-Pak duo of Bopanna and Qureshi is in the eighth position in the team ranking.

 

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