WTA Finals: Sania Mirza, Martina Hingis through to semis

New Delhi: World number 1 doubles player Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis returned to action with a straight sets win over Chan sisters at the WTA Finals on Friday in Singapore.

The defending champions defeated the sixth seeds Yung-jan Chan and Hao-ching Chan in their first match together after their split earlier this year.

.@mhingis/@MirzaSania into the final four #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/JyUNKmmstM — WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016

The celebrated Indo-Swiss team won the year-end title last year, and they will now play the winners of Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka and Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina.

SanTina won the match 7-6(10), 7-5 in just under two hours at Singapore, with first set deciding in tie-breaker. But in an erratic second set, the second seeds broke their Chinese opponents in the all-important 11th game to seal the match. The set itself witnessed as many as five breaks of service.

The Indo-Swiss pair won the title last year, defeating Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro in the final.

Big forehand from World No.1 @MirzaSania #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/HjokXZ6VHK — WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016

The pair enjoyed one of the most dominant period in women's doubles, but they announced the split in August, and the Indian teamed up with Barbora Strycova from the Czech Republic while the Swiss legend opted American Coco Vandeweghe.

The duo became an instant smash hit, and won won three Grand Slam titles besides capturing 11 WTA titles together since teaming up in 2015 at Indian Wells.

They even celebrated a 41-winning match streak that was ended.