There seems to be no stopping Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.
The ladies' doubles top seeds, who teamed up for the first time in March and immediately won three titles back to back, rattled through their match against Kimiko Date-Krumm and Francesca Schiavone in 45 minutes, for the loss of only one game.
The Swiss-Indian duo appeared to enjoy every moment of Friday’s Court 12 contest, which saw them prevail when five-time Grand Slam singles title holder Hingis carved out a winning cross-court forehand into the tramlines.
The women had been scheduled to play on Centre Court, but the lengthy three-set thriller between British hope Heather Watson and top seed Serena Williams unfolded and the match had to be moved to Court 12.
Not that they minded. “It is fine,” Mirza declared. “You can play on court 25 and still have to win it. For me it doesn’t matter if one person’s watching or 5,000. It’s a good court to play on.”
You cannot just think you'll show up and you're going to win matches like that
Since joining forces, the women have picked off Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston. So what’s the secret of their success? A healthy dose of mutual respect it seems.
Hingis claims that world No.1 doubles specialist Mirza "plays bombs’ from the baseline", while Mirza attributes Hingis, who is ranked No.2 in doubles, as having "the best hands in the game". “From the back I feel like I can set her up really well,” Mirza said.
The women never expected to win three titles back to back but the chemistry is plain to see. According to Hingis it helps that doubles is a priority for both of them.
“With our [previous] partners it was difficult to train and that’s really something that’s important, that you can train and get better together,” Hingis said. “You cannot just think you’ll show up and you’re going to win matches like that. That was definitely the key in the beginning and now we’re trying to get better and evolving in our game.”
Mirza agreed. “It was just about timing and it worked out perfectly. It was too bad we didn’t get together before that... some things just happen when they happen and it’s for the best. We didn’t think we were going to win three in a row, so we had a dream start and here we are today.”
Elsewhere, it was plain sailing for No.7 seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Flavia Pennetta who overcame Margarita Gasparyan and Alexandra Panova 6-3, 6-4.
The No.2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina also moved comfortably through to the third round with a 6-4, 6-1 win.
No.14 seeds Michaella Krajicek and Barbora Strycova triumphed over Vera Dushevina and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 7-6(7) but No.6 seeds Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro fell at the hands of experienced duo Cara Black and Lisa Raymond.
