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Navratilova breaks new record with win Posted: Saturday May 25, 2002 2:25 PMMADRID (Reuters) -- Former world number one Martina Navratilova became the oldest woman to win a WTA tour title when she won the Spanish Open doubles with partner Natasha Zvereva of Belarus on Saturday. The 45-year-old American, who returned to the doubles circuit in 2000 after a six-year retirement, beat the previous record held by compatriot Billie Jean King. King won her final tournament in Birmingham in 1983 at the age of 39. The new record was achieved thanks to a comfortable 6-2 6-3 win over Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Rossana Neffa de los Rios of Paraguay, who were seeded second. "It has been an amazing week for the both of us," said Navratilova after the record-breaking victory. "It is great to win another tournament again, especially considering I first retired so long ago." The win also enabled the nine-times Wimbledon singles champion to extend her record of doubles wins to 166, 54 more than Rosemary Casals who is her nearest rival in the all-time list. The Czech-born left-hander also holds the overall record for singles titles with 167, including 18 Grand Slams. Navratilova had not reached a final since Amelia Island last year and had not taken a tour title of any description since 1994 when she won the Paris indoor singles and the doubles at Zurich. |
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