Italian Open: Sania, Martina win first ever title on red clay

Rome: Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won their first ever title on red clay, capturing the Internazionali BNL d'Italia trophy with a 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the final here on Sunday.

The joint number one, Sania and Martina were playing their third straight final since the start of the clay court swing, falling both times to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic at Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and Mutua Madrid Open.

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Across the net were familiar foes in Makarova and Vesnina, who were playing just their second tournament together since last summer, having briefly split as the former healed a leg injury.

Winners of the last three major titles, Sania and Martina roared through the opening set and carved out a 5-3 lead in the second. But the Russians levelled the set and later the match in a tie-break.

Sania and Martina shook off the hiccup to beat back their opponents and a gloomy forecast to capture their 14^th title as a pair, and their fifth of 2016.

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Heading into the French Open on a four-match winning streak, Santina next look to complete a box set of Grand Slam titles, a Santina Slam that began at Wimbledon with a win over Makarova and Vesnina which took them through victories at the US Open and Australian Open in January.