WUHAN -- Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva captured 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: Scores | Order of Play | Draws

Danilina and Khromacheva have enjoyed a late-season surge to put themselves in contention for one of the final qualifying spots at the WTA Finals Riyadh. The team entered Wuhan needing to win the title to keep their hopes alive. They started the week at No.13 on the PIF Race to the WTA Finals and will now add 1,000 points to their tally.

"We didn't think about that definitely because I think to qualify, we have to win every single week we going to still play," Khromacheva said. "But our goal was to just stay day by day."

 

Danilina and Khromacheva have been a force to be reckoned with on the doubles circuit since teaming up full time over the summer. In their first tour-level tournament of the season, the duo made the final in Budapest and won the title in Iasi one week later. 

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

"She already told us actually in Australia that we should pair up," Khromacheva said. "Anna played with some different partners. I had some agreements, as well. But then we played a 125 in Italy. From there on we said, Okay, maybe let's try and let's play until the end of the year and see where we will 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, after winning 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. 

Unseeded this week, Danilina and Khromacheva cleared their path to their third final in their last four events by ousting top seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe in the quarterfinals. They followed up that win by defeating Katerina Siniakova and Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semifinals. The duo dominated their draw, losing just one set through the week. 

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

"That's going to be our last tournament," Khromacheva said. "Then we see if we end up first alternate [for the WTA Finals]. Definitely if we are first alternate, we will go.

"We just want to enjoy the moment first. We will continue to play next year, then we see next year."