Sania-Hingis keep winning

Top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis survived a scare to win their 29th consecutive match and enter the women’s doubles final of the Sydney International here on Thursday.

The Indo-Swiss tennis pair won a rain-interrupted semifinal 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 against Romanian Raluca Olaru and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. Their streak is the longest in 22 years, surpassing the mark set by Gigi Fernandez of the US and Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, who won 28 consecutive matches in 1994.

“Today the girls we were playing, they were playing probably the best I’ve seen them play. Slava has won Slams, before Olaru was playing really well. We had to really put everything that we had and really come out with our A Game when we needed to, especially in that super tie-break,” said Sania.

In men’s doubles, Rohan Bopanna, partnering Romanian Florin Mergea, defeated Australians Sam Groth and John Peers 6-2, 6-4 to enter the semifinal.

A violent thunderstorm and persistent rain prevented any of the scheduled singles matches from being completed on women's semifinal and men's quarterfinals day.

Sock through

Jack Sock started a new tradition at the Auckland Classic on Thursday, one the 23-year-old hopes will become his trademark as he carves out a successful tennis career.
The American overcame world number 12 Kevin Anderson 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open warm-up and in celebration flipped off a shoe before handing one of his socks to a fan.

"We were talking about it in warm-up today... a few people have their own things," Sock said. "I think with such a unique name that I have, we figured I might start a new tradition and give a sock away if I win."

Sock will next face four-times champion David Ferrer after the Spaniard completed a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Czech Republic's Lukas Rosol.

Twice champion John Isner of the United States will not be in the last four after losing the third quarterfinal 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 to Roberto Bautista Agut, despite firing down 17 aces.

The Spaniard will meet French second seed Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, who saw off Italy's Fabio Fognini 7-5, 7-6(4).