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Playing together for the third time, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova struck gold at the Family Circle Cup this week, capturing the doubles title on Sunday with a tense match tie-break win over surprise finalists Liga Dekmeijere and Patty Schnyder, 67(5) 62 119.
Mattek-Sands and Petrova played their first two tournaments together in recent weeks at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and The MPS Group Championships in Ponte Vedra Beach, both times winning one match and losing their second. But as the No.4 seeds in Charleston they went 4-0, including an upset over No.1 seeds Kveta Peschke and Lisa Raymond in the semifinals. After splitting the first two sets they seemed down and out against unseeded duo Dekmeijere and Schnyder in the final, facing triple match point at 6-9 in the match tie-break; but they saved them all in a five-point winning streak to cap a perfect week.
"Nadia's coach hooked us up and we played in Miami, Ponte Vedra then here," Mattek-Sands said. "To win a tournament like Charleston is a big deal. It's a big tournament for us. Our semifinal win was against a really good team and this just means more confidence for me, especially going into Fed Cup next week."
 "Our personalities match," Petrova said. "We work a lot off the court together and we really understand each other's game. We know each other's strengths and know how to work as a team."
Mattek-Sands now has five Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles titles to her name, all with different partners. Petrova has 16, eight of those coming with another American, Meghann Shaughnessy, two with Australian Jelena Dokic and the other six with different partners.
Dekmeijere and Schnyder were also pairing up for the third time, having played together at Roland Garros in 2006 and New Haven in 2008, without winning either title. They upset No.2 seeds Chuang Chia-Jung and Elena Vesnina and No.3 seeds Peng Shuai and Yan Zi en route to the final.
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