HALL OF FAMER MARTINA HINGIS AND JAMIE MURRAY WIN BACK-TO-BACK MIXED SLAM TITLES BY WINNING THE 2017 U.S. OPEN

Written by: Staff on 9th September 2017

HALL OF FAMER MARTINA HINGIS AND JAMIE MURRAY WIN BACK-TO-BACK MIXED SLAM TITLES BY WINNING THE 2017 U.S. OPEN

epa06194685 Jamie Murray of Great Britain (L) and Martina Hingis of Switzerland (R) celebrate with the championship trophy after defeating Michael Venus of New Zealand and Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei in the US Open Tennis Championships mixed doubles final round match at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 09 September 2017. The US Open runs through September 10. EPA-EFE/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

By Ricky Dimon

Martina Hingis is 36 years old. She will be 37 at the end of this month. But like Venus Williams, the legend keeps growing.

Hingis won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title on Saturday, partnering with Jamie Murray to beat Michael Venus and Chan Hao-Ching of Taiwan 6-1, 4-6, 10-8. It is the Swiss’ 24th career Grand Slam title–her seventh in mixed doubles to go along with five in singles and 12 in doubles.

But let’s not overlook Murray. Since teaming up at Wimbledon earlier this summer, Hingis and Murray are a perfect 10-0.

They remained undefeated the hard way in New York, as three of their five matches required super-tiebreakers–which they won 11-9, 10-8, and 10-8. Only their first-round victory was routine. They also prevailed 6-4, 7-6(8) in a hard-fought semifinal against Horia Tecau and Coco Vandeweghe.

“I think this one [was] a little bit more dramatic from start to the end,” Hingis reflected. “I think throughout this tournament sometimes it happens that you are down match point and you end up winning. That’s what we did.

“I think the super-tiebreakers, we know how to play them at this point. I definitely believed when we were going into it…. I felt like we had a great first set, second we let go a little bit, but in the super-tiebreaker I know we can still lift it up and play great tennis.”

“We had a great run,” Murray added. “We played a great tiebreak (in the final). The crowd was really into it. There was a lot of noise. Some crazy rallies going on. For us, it’s like so much fun to go there and play and play in a huge stadium–a lot of people coming out to watch. They are there four hours before the women’s singles final, so they are there because they want to come and watch us play. (It) makes us want to put on a good show.”

The show may go on, too. Although the two veterans have not committed to play at the 2018 Australian Open, it sounds like they will pair up together if both make the trip Down Under.

“It’s a long way to go until next year,” Hingis noted. “We said yes, if we go to Australia, everyone is healthy and playing. So that’s not an issue this time, I believe.”

“It’s been a lot of fun for me,” Murray said of their partnership. “(It’s) a great opportunity for me to compete with Martina. She’s such a great player; a huge champion of the game.”

You can say that again!