Vesnina and Makarova win WTA Finals doubles title

By John O’Brien

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Russian pair Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova claimed their first WTA Finals doubles title with a 7-6(5) 6-3 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

The Olympic champions were broken when they served for the opening set at 5-4 but regrouped in the tiebreak to edge ahead of the third seeded American-Czech partnership before a single break in the second set proved enough to seal the title.

Left-hander Makarova finished off the contest on the pair’s fourth championship point when Mattek-Sands could only get the frame of her racket to a booming serve out wide.

“It was such a great match and a real pleasure to play in,” Vesnina said. “It was really tough until the end, a really close match and we were so happy that we won it.”

The Russian pair beat defending champions Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis in the semi-finals late on Saturday and their victory on Sunday makes up for their final defeat in the tournament three years ago, when it was hosted in Istanbul.

(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)