Germany's Julia Goerges and Andrea Petkovic posted first-round wins at the Dubai Tennis Championships Monday. Goerges upset eighth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-0, 6-1. Petkovic, a former top-10 player, defeated Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-2, 6-1. Earlier, American Madison Brengle had a successful Dubai debut by coming from behind in both sets to beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 7-5. Brengle trailed 2-0 in the first set, and 4-0 in the second against Makarova, a Dubai quarterfinalist last year. Mirza, Hingis reach 40-love In Saint Petersburg, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis recorded their 40th successive win Sunday when they captured the St Petersburg women's doubles title and then set their sights on breaking a record which has stood for over 25 years. The India and Swiss pair, nicknamed 'SanTina', defeated Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-1 in the final. They are now close to setting the longest winning streak since 1990, when Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won 44 in a row. "We're obviously very happy to win another title but now that we're coming closer and closer to the next target of 44, we can't help but think about," admitted Mirza. "But it's not something we really want to think about; we're really excited to be at 40. We didn't think in our wildest dreams that this was going to happen. "I think I can speak on behalf of both of us that we're going to play every match on merit and try to get to 44." However, the reigning Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champions have a long way to go to break the ultimate record of 109 wins in a row, held by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver set in 1983. Nishikori wins Memphis In Washington, Japan's seventh-ranked Kei Nishikori captured his fourth consecutive ATP Memphis Open title Sunday by defeating 18-year-old US wildcard Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4. Top seed Nishikori won his 11th career ATP crown by taking his 17th consecutive Memphis match victory. He joins Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal as the only active players to have won the same event four years in a row. "It has been amazing," Nishikori said as he accepted the guitar-shaped champion's trophy. "It was really fun on the court. This is something I've never done before, something new. I'm very happy for that." Fritz, in only his third tour-level event, was the youngest American in an ATP final since a 17-year-old Michael Chang won at Wembley in 1989. "It was a great week for me," Fritz said. "Winning the tournament four times, that's incredible. He was too tough for me today." Fritz smashed a backhand winner down the line to break Nishikori's first service game of the match — his lone break of the contest — and then held at love himself for a 3-0 edge. But the Asian ace bounced back by winning six of the next seven games. A double fault cost Fritz a break in the fifth game and he struggled to hold in the seventh, denying Nishikori break points on two aces and a service winner. Nishikori broke in the ninth game on a forehand winner and held at love to claim the first set after 36 minutes. In the second set, Nishikori broke on a forehand winner for a 3-2 lead and forced Fritz to save two match points in the ninth game before holding in the 10th on a forehand winner to end it after 79 minutes. After starting the week 1-2 in ATP play, Fritz will jump from 145th to 103rd in the world rankings. Thiem claims Argentina In Buenos Aires, Austria's Dominic Thiem backed-up his shock semifinal win over Rafael Nadal to clinch the Argentina Open title Sunday with a 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Nicolas Almagro. Thiem, the world No. 19 and the youngest player in the top 20, captured his fourth career title all of which have been on clay. — Agencies
