BNP PARIBAS OPEN

A 'sparkling' doubles win for Chan and Hingis

Shad Powers

The Desert Sun

As the calendar turned to 2017, Yung-Jan Chan was playing doubles with her sister and they weren't winning. They talked about splitting up and taking on new partners. As Chan put it, she was trying "to find a new sparkle."

Hung-Jan Chan, of Taiwan, and Martina Hingis, of Switzerland, kiss their BNP Paribas Open women's doubles trophy after beating Czech Republic players Lucie Hradecka and Katrina Siniakova in the finals on Saturday, March 18, 2017 in Indian Wells, CA.

She found her "new sparkle" and it had a pretty famous tennis name -- Martin Hingis.

Hingis and Chan (known as Latisha on tour) began a doubles partnership on the courts of Melbourne during the Australian Open. They played a few times in Asia and their third pro tournament together was this week at the BNP Paribas Open. On Saturday, it became their first doubles championship together.

Hingis and Chan pulled out a dramatic first set against Czech pair Lusie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova and went on to win 7-6(4), 6-2. Chan and Hingis both pointed to their two tournaments in the Middle East as the preamble to this victory.

"Well, for the first two tournaments in Middle East, we were trying," Chan said. "We know each other as opponent. We didn't know how to work, and we spent a lot of time on court, off court, try to know each other and try to build up the trust between each other. I think those two tournaments, even though we didn't win the title or didn't get into the final, but still help us a lot. With those two weeks, it's, like, that's where we are winning the title here."

Hung-Jan Chan, of Taiwan, and Martina Hingis, of Switzerland during their doubles finals match with Czech Republic players Lucie Hradecka and Katrina Siniakova on Saturday, March 18, 2017 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA.

The win for Hingis was her third in doubles at the BNP Paribas Open with her third different partner, also winning in 1999 with Anna Kournikova and 2015 with Sania Mirza. This one was special.

"Especially, I'm not getting younger, 36 years of age," she said. "Every time I go out there and play a match, it's like a bonus. You know, being in the finals again already, beating the top teams on the way. You know, so it's still being a threat. I mean, I guess, it's the challenge, I accept it, and I welcome it. This is very satisfying to me."

Hingis is used to holding up trophies. How does 55 career doubles titles (12 slams) and 43 career singles titles (five Slams) sound?

The dynamic pair did not a lose a set the entire tournament.

Hung-Jan Chan, of Taiwan, and Martina Hingis, of Switzerland sign a piece of glass on a camera after beating Czech Republic players Lucie Hradecka and Katrina Siniakova on Saturday, March 18, 2017 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA.

Hingis is a staple in the finals here, but Chan has also been in a BNP Paribas Open final. She made the final here in 2007, losing to Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur. She's 27 years old now, so if you do the math, that means she was only 17 back then. What has changed for her since then?

"Well I was 17 then and now I'm 27," she said laughing, then saying that was her first Indian Wells, which drew an impressed glance from Hingis. "Yeah. Everything was so new for me. I didn't really know everybody. Just playing whenever I can. Now it's, like, I need to come out with something, with experience and you need to read the game better, and you need to do a lot of communication with your partner. I think after winning this title, it's, like, officially we are one of the best teams now. Yeah. So I think this title also means a lot to me, and then also proved that those 10 years didn't waste."