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Babos and Mladenovic win WTA Finals doubles

Shenzhen - Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic played a masterclass against Barbora Strycova and Hsieh Su-Wei to defend their WTA Finals doubles title on Sunday.

In a lopsided final, the world number three completed an unbeaten campaign in Shenzhen with a 6-1, 6-3 rout in 64 minutes.

The French Open champions were the first team since 2008 to defend their crown. It was a third straight triumph for Babos, who won in 2017 when paired with Andrea Sestini-Hlavackova.

"We really stood up and believed in our mental strength," Mladenovic said after the match.

The French-Hungarian pairing started red hot and captured two early breaks to run through a one-sided first set in just 24 minutes.

They gained a decisive break in the sixth game of the second set before completing a convincing victory over the Wimbledon champions.

Strycova had already secured the year-end number one doubles ranking for the first time in her career.

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