Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza win Wimbledon women’s doubles final

Martina Hingis has waited 17 years – half her life – to add to her three Wimbledontitles. The wait is over after a topsy-turvy, tooth-and-nail women’s doubles final in which the 34-year-old Swiss and her partner, India’s Sania Mirza, defeated the formidable Russian pairing of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

The match started on Centre Court in bright sunshine and finished under the roof and floodlights, two and a half hours later, with Hingis and Mirza finally prevailing 5-7, 7-6, 7-5. Hingis may have won bigger individual prizes but the way that she and Mirza bunny-hopped around the court after coming through match point, finishing with a celebratory arse-bump, suggested that few victories have given her such satisfaction.

“It feels like it was in another life,” said Hingis, reflecting on those previous titles. “But 17 years, usually you’re lucky to win it once or happy to be out here and play on the Wimbledon grounds. It’s above my expectations.”

It was, to be frank, a match that Hingis and Mirza, the No1 seeds, rarely looked like winning. For most of it Makarova and Vesnina, the No2 seeds, were powerful and merciless. Vesnina, who announced each involvement in a rally with a glass-shattering shriek, smashed volleys as if they had personally insulted her, while Makarova served faultlessly, at least until she had to do so to win the match at 5-3 in the final set.