Sania-Hingis pair eyes Grand Slam sweep

BEIJING: The world No. 1 pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis got talking about possibilities over brunch, pasta and dreams, if you like. On Thursday at the China Open, the duo, winners of the Wimbledon and the US Open titles, looked at completing the Grand Slam, a sweep of the majors, in 2016.
The Indo-Swiss combine, who won their last three tournaments - Wuhan, Guangzhou and the US Open all without dropping a set, have struggled a touch here, rallying after falling behind by a set to beat the difficult Italian outfit of Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta in their tournament opener.In the quarterfinals against German Julia Goerges and Czech Karolina Pliskova, they fought back from 1-5 down in the first set to win 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in an hour and 20 minutes to make Friday's last-four.
"This morning we were chatting about the Grand Slam," Sania, who is struggling with a bad throat and cold, said. "It's only natural that we look ahead, but it's a long way off. We have this week and a big tournament, the season-ender in Singapore before we finish. And then we need to start the year well too."
"You're allowed to dream," Hingis, 35, broke in strategically, pretty much like how she does on the court. "The way we're playing, combining, nothing is impossible."
Sania and Hingis, who are on a 15-match winning streak, have bettered their previous run of 14 straight wins after coming together in April, when they won three tournaments in a row. "We don't feel invincible," the 28-year old Indian said. "We've both played enough tennis not to think that way, but what we have is belief. When we're in a tough situation, like when we were trailing 1-5 today, we believe that we can find a way. We can pull it off."
"Find a solution," the veteran Swiss chipped in. "That's what match play is all about, finding a way when the all doors are closing. We did that in the Wimbledon final and again in the match against the Chan sisters at the US Open. We know that when we're playing our best, we are hard to beat. But it hasn't been easy. We've worked really hard to be here. It already feels like we've played 52 weeks of tennis."
The top pairing has won eight titles apiece in 2015 with seven of those coming when they were together. While the world No. 1 Indian has a 56-12 win-loss record for the year, having picked up 1,151,526 in prize-money, Hingis' charge stands at 53-11 with her on court earnings at 1,341,031.
"It's not easy to get the body going at this age," Hingis said. "Mentally, I know just what I need to do, but the body isn't always paying heed. The tough part is the disciplining bit ­ the gym, training, practice, eating right, the routine. It's tough to be disciplined all the time. Some days you just wake up better than others."
Sania said the pair didn't even need to tell the other how they're feeling when they get on court. "You can tell by the way we hit the first few balls and after that it's just trust," the Hyderabadi said. "When she says I'm going to take this return, I've got to believe she'll make it and vice versa, which is why we've been able to get this far, the belief."
Clinical Djokovic demolishes Zhang
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic demolished wildcard entrant Ze Zhang 2-6, 1-6 in 53 minutes in a second round match where the latter was just a spectator.
Djokovic moved his opponent around the court like a toy on a sling, drawing him in with drop shots and then leaving him stranded with either a well-timed lob or an angled pass to clinch his 26th straight win at the China Open, equalling Jimmy Connors' run for the second-best start to an ATP World Tour event.
Rafael Nadal with a 31-0 start at Roland Garros owns the record.