Sublime Santina

Sania Mirza (right) and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis pose with the women’s doubles world no.1 trophy after ending the season as the numero uno pair in Singapore on Friday.

World’s numero uno women’s doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis continued their rampaging form and extended their monster winning streak to 20 matches in a row after reaching the semi-finals of the WTA Finals here on Friday.

Sania and Martina, top seeds here, took just 90 minutes to get past the challenge of fourth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-4, 7-5 in their final round-robin match and finish on top of their group.

By virtue of this win, Sania and Martina had avenged their loss to the same pair the last time they played in Rome this year.

Saina and Martina lifted their game just at the right time and made full use of the only two breaks of the match they got.

The Indo-Swiss pair got break point opportunities at 4-all in the first set and 5-all in the second, and grabbed the chances with both hands to serve both sets out.

“We had played them twice before and we were 1-all, so we knew we had to come out and play well, like we’ve been trying to do every match here at the WTA Finals,” Sania said after the match.

“We just tried to come out and play our best, and that was enough to win today,” she added.

After joining hands, Sania and Martina have won eight women’s doubles titles, including two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the US Open this year.

Sania and Martina are just two wins away from their ninth WTA doubles title since joining forces eight months ago.

Sania and Martina will face third seeds, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei in the semi-finals.

“It feels pretty good! Sania came up to me and asked me why don't we try to play together, and at first we both had our partners, but as soon as we started we won a hat-trick right ” said the Swiss, who has returned to a flourising doubles career.

Muguruza seals last-four berth Spain’s Garbine Muguruza marched into the semis of the women’s singles in the WTA Finals in Singapore after beating Czech Petra Kvitova 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to sweep her group.

But Kvitova also qualified after her compatriot Lucie Safarova beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber in straight sets, elevating Kvitova to runner-up in their White Group. Muguruza, the world no. 3, had to hang tough against Kvitova but she is now on course for a title clash with Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who also won all three of her Red Group matches.

“You know to be here for me is a great pay-off after the whole year, and hopefully I can continue winning and playing like this,” said Muguruza.

The imposing Spaniard, at 22 the youngest player in Singapore, will play the experienced Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the semis.

Sharapova, who has looked revitalised after months out with injury, will face Kvitova.

Safarova, who was already disqualified and just playing for personal redemption, was delighted to give Kvitova a shot at the title with her 6-4, 6-3 win over Kerber.