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Cara Black

MAINTAINING her rich vein of form in the current season, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black bagged the women’s doubles title at the WTA Pan Pacific Open with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro on Saturday. With the win, Mirza and Black have successfully defended their Tokyo Open title, which is a $1 million event.
For Mirza, it will be icing on the cake after her US Open mixed doubles triumph with Brazilian partner Bruno Soares.

She would now spearhead the nation’s challenge at the Incheon Asian Games in what will be a depleted tennis contingent in the absence of Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman.

Mirza, will either pair with left-handed Divij Sharan or big-serving Saketh Myneni in the mixed doubles event, where India have a genuine chance of winning a medal.

In the final on Saturday, Mirza-Black pair took just an hour and 15 minutes to dispose off the Spanish challenge as their opponents were no match for them.
The Indo-Zimbabwean pair had a greater percentage (73%)of points won on first serve while they broke their opponents seven times in the match.

Meanwhile, third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2, 7-6 (2) yesterday to win the Pan Pacific Open singles title and capture her fourth WTA title of the year.

In a match that featured two former World No 1s, Ivanovic broke Wozniacki three times in the first set at Ariake Coliseum and won the second-set tiebreaker with a forehand to the corner to capture her first Pan Pacific title.

“The key for me was coming forward to the net,” Ivanovic said. “She is a great offensive player and gets a lot of balls back so it was important for me to come forward and play well at the net.”

Ivanovic, who is No 8 in the rankings, did not drop a set en route to yesterday’s final.
US Open finalist Wozniacki, who won this tournament in 2010, had her serve broken to go down 3-2 in the first set and then lost the next three games as Ivanovic seized the momentum.

Wozniacki broke serve for a 3-1 second set lead and was up 30-15 in the fourth game, just two points from a 4-1 lead. But Ivanovic came storming back, winning five of the next eight games to push the set to a tiebreak, where she played almost flawlessly.

Ivanovic first played at the Pan Pacific eight years ago when she finished runner-up, her best result before yesterday’s win.
“I’ve always enjoyed coming here,” Ivanovic said. “This is a great event and winning today puts me one step closer to the WTA Finals in Singapore.

With the win in Tokyo, Ivanovic is projected to move from No. 8 to No. 5 in the rankings, and with eight players qualifying for the Singapore event, she has a good chance of making it. — AFP