Sania seals historic Wimbledon crown with Hingis

London, Jul 11 (PTI) India's tennis queen Sania Mirza today created

history by becoming the first female player from the country to win

a women's doubles Grand Slam trophy as she clinched the Wimbledon

title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis, here.

12 years after turning Pro, 28-year-old Sania laid hands on her

first women's doubles Major title when she and Hingis battled past

second seed Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina

5-7 7-6(4) 7-5 in a thrilling final.

In an interesting coincidence it was at these very historic courts

that Sania had won women's doubles junior Wimbledon championship

with Russian partner Alisa Kleybanova in 2003.

Sania had come close to winning a women's doubles Major in 2011

when she reached the French Open final with Elena Vesnina but ended

up runners-up.

Already having a long list of firsts, Sania had become India's first

woman player to win a Grand Slam when she won the Australian Open

with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009. She later added French Open

(2012 with Bhupathi) and US Open (2014 with Bruno Soares) to her

mixed doubles collection.

It was a remarkable turn around for the top seeds as they were trailing

2-5 in the deciding set but made a stunning comeback to reel off

five straight games to clinch the issue.

Vesnina was all fired up today and her smashing volleys at the net

put Sania and Hingis in a lot of trouble. The Russian was left distraught

as she played out of her skin.

It was third time in recent times that Sania and Hingis played the

two Russian in finals --Indian Wells and Miami -- and asserted their

supremacy again.

Sania was broken in the very first game of the match when Vesnina

hit a volley winner from the net but the top seeds immediately broke

Vesnina to avoid falling behind. It was a remarkable lob from Hingis

that gave them two break chances and they converted the second.

Sania and Hingis put tremendous pressure on the their rivals but

the two Russians responded well and it was 5-5.

Hingis was broken in the 11th game at love after a terrific rally

of powerful groundstrokes from left-handed Makarova. Vesnina pounced

on one return from the Swiss and hammered the volley winner close

to the body of Sania.

Makarova served for the set and it was Vesnina's smart play at the

net that sealed them the opening set.

It was the first set that Sania and Hingis had dropped in this tournament.