ROME, Italy: World No. 1 women doubles pair Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza got the better of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-3 to win the Internazionali BNL d'Italia title - their first title since February and their first ever on red clay.
Hingis and Mirza were in their third straight final since the start of the clay court swing, falling both times to the streaking Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in both the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and Mutua Madrid Open.
Santina won the first set (6-1) easily and surged 5-3 in the second. But the Russians came back strong to level the set and later the match in a tie-break.
Hingis and Mirza shook off the hiccup to beat back their opponents and a gloomy forecast to capture their 14th title as a pair, and their fifth of 2016.
Heading into the French Open on a four-match winning streak, Martina-Sania next look to complete a box set of Grand Slam titles - a Santina Slam - that began at Wimbledon over Makarova and Vesnina, and took them through victories at the US Open and Australian Open in January.
