Cara Black and Liezel Huber Qualify for Doha Championships

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced on Wednesday that the outstanding doubles team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber are the first to qualify for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships.

The prestigious competition will take place at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, from November 4-9, 2008.

The world’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams from the 2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season compete for the Championships title and a share of the record prize money of $4.45 million.

The Zimbabwean-American pair are first in the doubles Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships with 4,392 points, a striking 2,109 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain.

Thus far in the 2008 season, Black and Huber have won seven Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles titles - at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium; the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, Germany; the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom; the International Women’s Open in Eastbourne, United Kingdom; the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, United States; and most recently at the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank in Montreal, Canada. The successful duo have won 19 career titles as a team, including 2005 and 2007 Wimbledon, 2007 Australian Open, and the 2007 Sony Ericsson Championships.

“We are very excited to be the first doubles team to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships,” said Cara Black in the Tour’s announcement. “We’ve had a great year so far and look forward to finishing the season in Doha and defending our Championships title.”

Black, the current co-ranked No.1 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Doubles Ranking along with partner Huber, has won 43 career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles titles, including four Grand Slam titles (three at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open) and over $4.75 million in career prize money. She became the world’s top ranked doubles player in 2005, the year she and her doubles partner Liezel Huber teamed up for a striking run which included their first Wimbledon title.

“We are of course very happy to be the first to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships,” said Liezel Huber. “The Championships are a perfect ending to a hard fought season and we are excited to play this year in Doha.”

Huber has won 31 career doubles titles and earned over $2.8 million in prize money. Playing exclusively doubles since 2004, Huber celebrated her career-first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles title at the Tokyo Princess Cup in 2001 with Black and her first Grand Slam title at 2005 Wimbledon, also with Black. The pair were awarded the Tour’s “Doubles Team of the Year” (for 2007 achievements). In addition, Huber was awarded the Tour’s “Player Service Award” in 2008 recognizing her charitable work helping victims of the Hurricane Katrina.

“Both Cara and Liezel have repeatedly demonstrated that they are on great form this season, so it came as no surprise that they are the first doubles team to qualify for the 2008 Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha,” said Aldo Liguori, Corporate Vice President and Head of Global Communications & PR at Sony Ericsson.

“We are delighted to have these top players compete at this end-of-season tournament and are sure that their considerable talent will mean that the audience are going to be treated to a truly exciting event.”

The race for the three remaining doubles spots in the Sony Ericsson Championships is closer than ever. Roland Garros champions Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual are currently in second place with 2,283 points; the current third- and fourth-placed teams are the Ukrainian sisters and Australian Open Champions, Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko with 2,206 points and Chuang Chia-Jung and Chan Yung-Jan of Chinese Taipei with 2,194 points – only 33 points ahead of the Czech-Australian team of Kveta Peschke and Rennea Stubbs with 2,161 points.

If you enjoyed this tennis article, please sign up for a free subscription!