Ekaterina Makarova (L) and Elena Vesnina of Russia (R) pose with the trophy after their victory in the women's doubles final against Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic at the WTA Finals tennis tournament in Singapore
SINGAPORE: 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."
