Wimbledon champions Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) of Taiwan and Peng Shuai (彭帥) of China added another gem to their crown when they won the doubles title yesterday at the TEB BNP Paribas Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
They beat Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 7-5 in one hour, 46 minutes.
The duo reached the final of the year-ending tournament after beating No. 3 seeds Nadia Petrova of Russia and Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik on Saturday to become the first players from Taiwan and China to reach the doubles final at the tournament.
Photo: AFP
Makarova and Vesnina reached yesterday’s final after upsetting top-ranked Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 4-6, 7-5, 10-3 on Saturday.
The WTA Championships is a tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-eight singles players and top-four doubles teams on the WTA tour.
The victory earned Peng and Hsieh their second major title after the pair, both 27, won Wimbledon in July by defeating Australian duo Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.
That win was historic for Hsieh as she became the first senior player from Taiwan ever to win a Grand Slam title of any kind.
Hsinchu-born Hsieh and Peng have an undefeated 9-0 record in WTA doubles finals since teaming up in 2008 and were only the second and third Asian players to reach the doubles final at the WTA Championships.
Japan’s Ai Sugiyama was twice runner-up in 2003 and 2007.
Additional reporting by staff writer
This story has been updated since first published.
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