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Russian duo halt doubles win streak of Mirza-Hingis
Top ranked women's doubles pair Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza had their 41-match winning streak halted on Thursday after they were beaten in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.
The Swiss and Indian, the current Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champions, were beaten 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 by Russian duo Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina.
"That was an amazing match for us," Vesnina was quoted as saying by the WTA Tour.
"We played against them just a week ago, and they're one of the greatest doubles teams we have in women's tennis. I think everything worked today for us to win, and we're just so excited about it."
Mirza and Hingis had started their win streak in September at the US Open, the first of nine straight titles.
The last time the Indo-Swiss pair, who have won three doubles Grand Slams in a row, had lost was way back in Cincinatti last August.
Sania and Hingis have together won four titles this year out of an overall trophy count of 13.
They started the year with wins in Brisbane and Sydney before completing a hat-trick of Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open. The duo had won the St Petersburg Ladies title earlier this month.
If they had won the Qatar event they would have tied Natasha Zvereva of Belarus and Czech Jana Novotna's 1990 mark of 44 consecutive wins.
The longest women's doubles win streak is 109 matches, set by American pair Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver between 1983 and 1985.