India’s Sania Mirza won her first title of the season and 23rd of her career when she and Bethanie Mattek-Sands shocked top-seeded Americans Abigail Spears and Raquel Kops-Jones in the summit clash of the Apia International here on Friday. The unseeded Indo-American combine humbled the top seeds 6-3, 6-3 in just 69 minutes.
The results:At Sydney: APIA Sydney International: Men: Semifinals: Mikhail Kukushkin bt Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-4; Viktor Troicki bt Gilles Muller 6-2, 6-4. Quarterfinals: Kukushkin bt Juan Martin del Potro 7-6(5), 7-6(3); Mayer bt Julien Benneteau 6-3, 7-6(4); Troicki bt Simone Bolelli 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Gilles Muller bt Bernard Tomic 7-6(3), 7-6(13).
Women: Final: Petra Kvitova bt Karolina Pliskova 7-6(5), 7-6(6). Semifinals: Karolina Pliskova bt Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-2; Petra Kvitova bt Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5, 6-1.
Doubles: Final: Sania Mirza & Bethanie Mattek-Sands bt Abigail Spears & Raquel Kops-Jones 6-3, 6-3.
At Auckland: ATP Heineken Open: Semifinals: Adrian Mannarino bt Lucas Pouille 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Jiri Vesely bt Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6(4). Quarterfinals: Anderson bt Steve Johnson 6-4, 7-6(8); Vesely bt Donald Young 6-2, 6-3; Adrian Mannarino bt Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-1; Lucas Pouille bt Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-2. Doubles: Semifinals: Raven Klaasen & Leander Paes bt Alexander Peya & Bruno Soares 3-6, 6-3, 10-4. At Melbourne: ATP Kooyong Classic: Final: Fernando Verdasco bt Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6(3), retd. Playoff for 3rd-4th: Richard Gasquet bt Kei Nishikori 7-6(4), 7-6(6). Relegation round: Gilles Simon bt Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 6-3; Jordan Thompson bt Feliciano Lopez 7-6(7), 6-3.
