Eighth-seeded Spanish team formed by Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro secured the first place in the White Group and a spot in the semifinal of the WTA Finals doubles tournament after beating Taiwanese sisters sisters Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-jan 7-5 6-4 in one hour and 43 minutes. Muguruza and Suarez Navarro had already beaten the Chan sisters at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
Suarez Navarro and Muguruza won a close first set before going a double break down in the second. However, the Spanish players reeled off the next six games to close out the second set with 6-4.
Despite today’s defeat the Taiwanese sisters have claimed the first spot in the White Group with a 2-1 record, 4-2 in sets and a 55.74 win percentage for games. On Tuesday they won their second round-robin match beat Bethanie Mattek Sands and Lucie Safarova 6-2 6-2. Muguruza and Suarez Navarro have finished second with a 2-1 record, 4-2 on sets and 54.69 win percentage for games after Mattek Sands and Lucie Safarova retired as they were losing 6-2 3-0 against Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik.
Muguruza will return to the court tomorrow to play against Petra Kvitova in thethird round-robin singles match
In the Red Group Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have secured the first place with their second win this week over Olympic silver medallists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka with the score of 6-4 6-4. Hingis and Mirza faced a tough challenge in the second set where she had to rally from a 1-4 deficit.
Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic beat Raquel Kops Jones and Abigail Spears 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 remaining in contention for the second place which qualifies for the semifinal.
