Huber and Raymond have invincible feeling

Dubai: With a second doubles crown in as many weeks, the American pair of Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber are feeling invincible on court.

"It feels great. I think when we step on the court now we feel like the teams are going to have really come up with something special and produce some really good tennis to beat us. And I think we proved that today," Raymond said after their finals triumph on centre court at the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open on Saturday.

"If you look back at some of my most successful doubles partners and partnerships, the first few tournaments I played with those partners lost first round. I think actually Liezel had the same experience with Cara Black, who was her most successful partnership. It took us a little while to hit our stride. We knew and just believed in each other and, in this team, in this partnership. You know, once we hit our stride, it's been great ever since," Raymond said.

As a pair coming together in the middle of April last year, this is the seventh doubles title for the Americans — an amazing run this season that included titles in Doha last week preceded by another one at the Paris Indoors.

On Saturday, there was another reason why the Americans felt challenged — they had lost to Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina on the past three occasions that they had clashed. "When looked at those three times, obviously we were very ready to play them because we had lost to them three times. But there wasn't anything in those three times that was the same as today," Huber said.

"Here it was on hardcourt, on a faster surface, and a short format. If they were going to take it from us today, then take it from us."