Sania Mirza and Cara Black triumphed at the Portugal Open, in what was their third final this season. The Indo-Zimbabwean duo beat the Czech-Russian pair of Eva Hrdinova and Valeria Solovyeva 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday.
Mirza-Black had finished as runners-up at Indian Wells in March and in Stuttgart last week. The win in Oeiras not only earned them Euro 9,919 as prize money but also handed them 280 ranking points each. Their performance also keeps them in contention for the WTA Championships, pushing them up to no. 3 before Singapore.
"I think if you perform consistently, that kind of takes care of itself," Mirza said about her plans to be on top of the rankings list. "Of course the goal is to try and get there, eventually, but at the moment we're just trying to keep improving and to play our best."
The top-seeded pair had an early break to take them to 3-1 but the unseeded duo Hrdinova and Solovyeva did justice to their berth in the final, by coming right back at 4-4. Mirza and Black let no upset take surge as they took control of the game to make the first set their own. The second set, however, did not see much of a rush as Mirza and Black sealed victory.
"We're really happy," Black said after their summit clash on clay. "We got to the final in Stuttgart last week and now a win here so it's a good start on the clay for us."
In the women's singles final, Spanish top seed Carla Suarez Navarro beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to win her first career title.
"I'm very happy I could finally win my first WTA title," Navarro said after winning at Portugal Open for the first time in three finals. "I was a little bit nervous. It was a difficult match, and we know each other well, but the most important thing for me was just to be solid all the time."
(Ed: VP)
