CARA Black and Indian partner Sania Mirza would be looking for revenge as well as a place in the Pan Pacific Open Women Doubles semi-finals when they face off with four-time grand slam champion Martina Hingis and her 17-year partner Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals of the competition in Tokyo today.
HENRY MHARA
Seeded first, Black and Mirza successfully launched the defence of their Pan Pacific Open doubles title yesterday when they defeated Americans Casey Dellacqua and former Cara partner Lisa Raymond 6-3, 3-6, 10/8 to progress to the next stage.
However the pair faces a difficult hurdle in their bid to their successfully defend the title they won last year as they face Hingis and Bencic who dumped them out of the US Open tournament at the semi-finals stage two weeks ago.
If they manage to clear this hurdle, Black and Mirza’s possible opponents in the semis are Alla Kudryavtseva / Anastasia Rodionova (Black’s former partner) or the pairing of Jelena Jankovic and Arantxa Parra Santonja.
In yesterday’s match, the Indo-Zimbabwean duo claimed the first set 6-3 but was pegged back by the same margin in the second set before winning the tie break 10-8.
Last year Cara and Sania defeated Hao-Ching Chan and Liezel Huber, another former partner of Black, to win the doubles title in Tokyo.
Unseeded then, unseeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair came from a set down to register a thrilling 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 victory over Chinese Taipei and American pair.
