The red-hot Danilina and Khromacheva won their first WTA 1000 title in Wuhan

WUHAN – Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva won the first WTA 1000 title of their careers at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open, defeating Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-6(6) in the final.

Wuhan: Points | Order of play | Pulls

Danilina and Khromacheva staged a late-season surge to secure one of the final qualifying spots for the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The team traveled to Wuhan needing to win the title to keep their hopes alive. They started the week ranked 13th in the PIF Race to the WTA Finals and will now add 1,000 points to their tally.

“We haven't necessarily thought about that because I think in order to qualify we have to win every single week that we still play,” Khromacheva said. “But our goal was to just take it day by day.”

Danilina and Khromacheva have been a force to be reckoned with in doubles since becoming full-time players in the summer. In their first tour-level tournament of the season, the duo reached the final in Budapest and won the title in Iasi a week later.

Danilina and Khromacheva were born in the same city and have known each other since they were young. Khromacheva's first coach was Andrey Rublev's mother, who also helps Danilina from time to time.

“She already told us in Australia that we should get together,” Khromacheva said. “Anna played with different partners. I also had some agreements. But then we played a 125 in Italy. From then on we said, OK, maybe let's give it a try and play until the end of the year and see where we end up.

“Here we are. I'm speechless. I don’t know what to say.”

Since Wimbledon, Danilina and Khromacheva are 25-5 and have now won 13 of their last 14 matches. Wuhan is Danilina and Khromacheva's fourth team title of the season, having won Hua Hin 2 and Guadalajara 500 last month and Iasi in July. Individually, Wuhan is Danilina's ninth career doubles title and Khromacheva's eighth.

Danilina and Khromacheva, unseeded this week, paved their way to their third final in their last four events by ousting top seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe in the quarterfinals. After this win, they defeated Katerina Siniakova and Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semifinals. The duo dominated their draw and only lost one set over the course of the week.

Danilina and Khromacheva next travel to the Ningbo Open, where they are seeded No. 3. They will play against Aldila Sutjiadi and Xu Yifan in the first round.

“This will be our last tournament,” Khromacheva said. “Then we’ll see if we end up being the first substitute (for the WTA final). If we are the first substitute, we will definitely go.”

“We just want to enjoy the moment first. We’ll continue playing next year, then we’ll see next year.”