Martina Hingis has waited 17 years – half her life – to add to her three Wimbledon titles. 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.