China's Xu, Yang win Indian Wells doubles title

WASHINGTON - Unseeded Chinese pair of Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan won their maiden WTA Tour title as a team on Saturday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, beating American Asia Muhammad and Ena Shibahara of Japan 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the women's doubles final.

It was a hard-fought victory as Xu and Yang fought back from 2-5 down in the opening set, and saved two set points in the second set against the No. 7 seeds.

The title marks Xu's 11th WTA Tour doubles title, also her second at WTA 1000-level following the 2017 Miami Open when she partnered with Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski.

Xu said the victory is the result of their hard work. "We prepared well for each game, watching at least an hour of competition videos of other players' or ourselves'."

"But the most important thing is to play to the best of our skills and tactics, and make adjustments according to the changes of our opponents," she added.

"I'm very happy. I didn't expect the result to be so good two weeks ago. It was tough in the process, but we did a good job. I'm proud of myself and our pair for this result," said Yang.