JOIN USSania Mirza continued her impressive run as she captured her fourth title of the season and 18th overall with Cara Black of Zimbabwe, recording a come-from-behind win over Liezel Huber and Hao Ching Chan to lift the Pan Pacific Open trophy, here on Saturday.
The unseeded slayers of the top seeds in the semifinals pipped the American-Taipei combination 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 in one hour and 25 minutes.
After losing the opening set, Sania and Cara made a stunning recovery as they bageled their opponents with three breaks to push the match to super tiebreaker, where the Indian-Zimbabwean combo rallied again to edge past the rivals 11-9.
Sania has been struggling to find consistent partners this season and today’s title was her fourth with third different partner.
Kvitova victorious
Meanwhile, Czech Petra Kvitova overcame a second set meltdown to dispatch Angelique Kerber 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 in the final of the women’s event on Saturday to claim her 11th WTA tour title.
It was Kvitova's second WTA title of the year following her success in Dubai in February and the win is expected to move her up from 11th to seventh in the rankings as she closes in on a spot at the WTA Championships in Istanbul next month.
"It's always a great feeling if you win a title at a tournament. It means a lot for me. I'm glad I have some points toward the Championships," Kvitova said after her win at the $2,369,000 hard court tournament.
"I still have some tournaments left but I want to focus on today (Friday). I just want to enjoy,’’ she added.
The match up between the duo, who both ousted former world number ones in the last four, was the first all-left handed WTA final since 2009 and first in 20 years at a 'Premier' level.
"I was just lucky I did a good job at the end," Kvitova said. "Of course, I was feeling a little bit tired. Angie came back in the match and I just tried to focus on the point at hand,’’ she added.
Berdych in final
Tomas Berdych closed in on his first title of the year when he rallied from a set down to beat Gilles Simon in their Thailand Open semifinal on Saturday.
Berdych, the only member of the world's top 10 without a title this year, lost an opening-set tiebreak against the Frenchman, who played really well the crucial points, but recovered to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-2, 7-5 in Bangkok. Berdych faces Canada’s Milos Raonic in the summit clash on Sunday.