Cincinnati Masters: Sania Mirza defeats former partner Martina Hingis to be sole owner of No 1 spot

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis parted ways after Rogers Cup only to end up standing opposite each other at the Cincinnati Masters finals. Sania, paired with Barbora Strycova from the Czech Republic, defeated Martina, who has teamed up with Coco Vandeweghe of the United States of America, 7-5, 6-4.

With the win, Sania retained her number one status on the women's doubles ranking as Hingis slipped to the second spot.

The win comes as a soother to Olympics defeats for Sania Mirza who won her sixth title of the season and 38th in the doubles tally.

The Indo-Czech pair were down 1-5 in the first set, but finding the rhythm, the duo bounced back to take charge of the match with a 7-5 win.

There was a shaky start to the second set as well as Mirza-Strycova failed to convert a break point. They soon found success with a 3-1 lead and Mirza's forehand ensured a 6-4 win over the Swiss-American pair.

When asked about facing Hingis on the court, Sania said, "I am not going to lie. It's a very difficult situation. It's not easy because we are still good friends, so it's never easy. It's the first tournament since we split and we come and we have to play each other. Of course, there is no better match to play than the final, so it was difficult, I think. for both of us.

"But having said that we are professional tennis players. We have to come out and we have to give our best and we have to try and win. That's all we can do, and we both tried to do that," reports WTAtennis.

Sania is not bothered about the ranking and thinks that it is just a number. All she wanted to do was play to win and that's what she did.

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