Sania-Chuang pair clinches title

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza lifted her first WTA title of the year, teaming up with Chinese Taipei's Chia-Jung Chuang to clinch the women's doubles trophy at the USD 220,000 MPS Group Championships in Florida.

The unseeded duo stunned the top seeded Czech-American combine of Kveta Pleschke and Lisa Raymond 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 in a gruelling one and a half hour battle to nocth up their first title together.

"This was our second tournament together, so we have had a lot more match practice together. Kveta and Lisa have been playing for a long time and they're really experienced, and we're really happy to have beaten them," an elated Sania said after the win that made her and Chuang richer by USD 11,000. 

For Sania, it was also her eighth career doubles title and her first in more than a year. The Indian last won a doubles title in August 2007 with Italian Mara Santangelo at the New Haven hard-court event in USA.

"We just played the big points better at the end, I think that was the difference," said Sania. 

In an intriguing battle, Sania and Chuang tested their fancied rivals from the very start, earning as many as seven break points in the opening set.

The unseeded duo converted three of the seven breaks it got and saved four of the six breaks it faced to go one-up in the marathon match. 

The second set was equally hard-fought but Peschke and Raymond converted a crucial break point to equalise.      However, in the nerve-wracking super tie-breaker, it was Sania and Chuang who kept their cool to seal the issue.

The win continues a successful return from injury for Sania. The Hyderabadi, who had been laid low by a wrist injury for most part of the year gone by, earlier won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi in January.