Cara Black Loses In the Wuhan Open Finals

Cara Black Loses In the Wuhan Open Finals

Perkins Bare

Zimbabwe`s top ranked female tennis player who has hit a rich vein of form and her once-off partner Caroline Garcia lost to Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta in the Wuhan Open Finals missing out on the $2,440,070 prize money.

The No.8 seeds Cara Black and Caroline Garcia which was a first-time pairing shook off a 6-3 deficit in the match tie-break of their 2-6, 6-3, 10-7 triumph over No.4 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai. Black and Garcia have dropped the first set in their last three matches, yet were victorious in match tie-breaks each time.

Black who is ranked 5^th on the WTA Doubles rankings together with her Indian partner and was looking forward to win her second consecutive title after bagging the women's doubles title at the WTA Pan Pacific Open with a 6-2, 7-5 straight set victory over Spain's Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro. She has also won 68 pro doubles titles and held the No. 1 ranking in women's doubles for 163 weeks in her long career.

In the final on Saturday, Sania-Cara pair took just an hour and 15 minutes to dispose off the Spanish challenge as their opponents were no match for them. The Indo-Zimbabwean pair had a greater percentage (73%) of points won on first serve while they broke their opponents seven times in the match. Black who is regarded as a doubles specialist and is surely on her way to attaining her continental legendary status.With the win, Sania and Cara have successfully defended their Tokyo Open title, earning a lump some $1 million which widened the smiles at Zimra.

The 35 year old mom, who is now in her 16th year of traveling the world and with five Grand Slam women's titles and five more in mixed. The busy mom who travels with husband Brett Stephens and 2-year-old son Lachlan and playing on the back courts, has made close to $7.5 million lost out in the final to Hingis and Pennetta who looked fresh early on, and understandably so - they only played two full matches in the four rounds going in, winning one by retirement and the other set comfortably.

Though both of their wins came in straight sets Black and Garcia looked determined from the beginning which forced the No.6-seeded Swiss-Italian combo out of their comfort zone and having to sweat it out as they stormed out to a 6-4, 5-3 lead.

The No.8-seeded Black and Garcia came out all guns blazing from onset as they fought off four match points chugging towards their second set, 7-5, and built all kinds of leads in the ensuing match tie-break, like as they forced off 4-1, 6-3, and - after losing those leads - even bringing up two match points up 9-8 and 10-9.

Black and Garcia then seemed lightweight for the class on display as their hard work all came to naught as Hingis and Penneta fought both of those off, including a fantastic Pennetta backhand volley which went straight into the corner on the second one, and with one last big serve which closed it out, 6-4, 5-7, 12-10.

"We got a little bit tight in the end of the second set, but that's normal in a final," Pennetta said speaking to the crowd after the win. "It was just amazing to play doubles with Martina again. She's a great partner and a great person”.

"Our first time in Wuhan was amazing. Everything was perfect. We really enjoyed our week." Hingis who herself had a respectable knowledge of the Chinese language went on to say, “First, I want to say Xie Xie Wuhan," Hingis - who was saying thank you and had the crowd on their feet. "I really want to thank everybody for coming out here for the final. “There aren't many places I can say I'm coming to for the first time in my 20 years of playing. And I really loved this tournament. I really enjoyed every moment. It's just been a fantastic week.

Last weekend`s victory saw them qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore next month and it would be Black’s 11th appearance in the competition having qualified for the previous 10 years with three different partners — Elena Likhovtseva, Rennae Stubbs and Liezel Huber.

Alongside her regular partner, Sania Mirza, Black who had lost all four of her encounters with Errani and Vinci, this season finally got her revenge. At first, it looked like she was in for more disappointment as the Italians won five straight games to take the opening set. This only succeeded in galvanizing Black and Garcia, who hit back in spectacular fashion, producing their own run of five unanswered games, before closing out a 3-6, 6-1, 10-4 win.

The tennis ace who was described by the Los Angeles Times `one of the have-nots in the world of professional tennis`. Her late father, Don, was a touring pro who played half a dozen times at Wimbledon and had a dream that one of his children would one day win there and he saw came true in 2004 when Cara won the Wimbledon women's doubles title and added the mixed, with Brother Wayne. He built four grass courts and one all-weather court in the family backyard. Older brothers Byron and Wayne learned there and each went to USC, where they were stars on the team and had pro careers. Byron graduated and now works in real estate in South Africa while Wayne is back in Zimbabwe, running a bed-and-breakfast and coaching his own children on the same courts where he and his siblings learned to excel at the game which just leaves the torch of the Blacks legacy to Cara waiting for her next successor.