They’ve done it! Makarova and Vesnina win the tiebreak 7-5 to take matters to a decider! It’s now at a super tiebreaker, and it goes the way of Mirza and Hingis! They take it 10-3 to beat Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the super tie break after the Russians win a second set 7-6.
And we’re at a second-set tiebreak after a brilliant fight from the Russians! They’re leading the tiebreak 4-2 and are looking to force a deciding set.
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Despite a good scramble to fight back in the second set, Makarova and Vesnina are absolutely no match for the Mirza-Hingis juggernaut.....but wait, it’s not over yet! Now it’s the Russian pair who take a 6-5 lead. Can we see this go to three sets?
Second set and Vesnina/Makarova are scrambling to come back! They’re better than Mirza and Hingis on first serves in this set, but it’s still Mirza and Hingis who lead 4-2.
This is some absolutely clinical stuff from Mirza and Hingis! 30 minutes and they take the first set 6-1.
It's a fairly straightforward set so far – at least for Mirza and Hingis – they’ve just broken Vesnina and Makarova for a 3-1 lead. Their rivals have committed two double faults.
The world’s top-ranked women's doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis take on the seventh-seeded pair of Ekaterina Makaraova and Elena Vesnina in the finals of the clay-court Italian Open today in Rome.
The Indo-Swiss pair will take on their Russian rivals in search of a maiden Italian Open title today.
The pair, who had started a 41-match winning streak in September of last year, ended that streak in February this year, after a quarter-final loss at the Qatar Open. They were beaten at that match by Elena Vesnina, partnered at the time by young Russian talent Daria Kasatkina.
A win at Qatar would have meant that Mirza and Hingis would equal the title tally of Jana Novotna and Natasha Zvereva; the Czech-Belarusian pair set a 44-match winning streak, which is the most recently set record.
The all-time record, however, still stands with Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver; the all-American pair took a staggering 109 wins on the trot in the 1980s.
Hingis and Mirza, who came together in 2015, have already won the Australian Open together this year. Although they have never won the French Open together, Hingis has two doubles titles at the venue, while Mirza won in the mixed doubles in 2012.
Having been in brilliant form since they came together last year, the pair of Mirza and Hingis have been powerful and consistent, with Mirza’s powerful serve and offensive baseline play standing the team in good stead.
Although Mirza far prefers (and is skilled) at baseline play, she has adapted to the serve-and-volley style since partnering with Hingis, who is also primarily a baseliner.
