Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez were arguably the best doubles team on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2009. Although they did not go beyond the quarters of a Grand Slam, they won a Tour-best seven titles - at Bogotá, Acapulco, Barcelona, Palermo, Toronto, New Haven and in dramatic fashion, the Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2009.
The Spaniards had played together as far back as 2002, but only periodically until 2008, when they played in 11 Tour events together, in addition to the Fed Cup and Olympics. However, they won just one title - at Acapulco.
This season played out far differently, though, as the 5' 1 1/2" Llagostera Vives and the 5' 9 1/4" Martínez Sánchez emerged from relative obscurity into stardom on the doubles circuit. Nowhere was that more evident than in Doha, where they edged the seemingly unbeatable Williams sisters in a match tie-break in the semis and then outlasted co-world No.1s Cara Black and Liezel Huber in another match tie-break in the final. All told, the Spaniards were an impressive 7-2 in finals during the season, giving them each 12 Tour doubles titles for their careers (eight with each other and four with other partners). 
Highlights: Doha Doubles Final
"It's the biggest title ever for us. We've been waiting all year for this title and it came!" Llagostera Vives said after the Doha final. "We have played against them so many times and always lost - very tight matches, but we always lost. Today we didn't want to leave the court without winning!"
Llagostera Vives and Martínez Sánchez will finish the year at No.5 and No.6 in the doubles rankings respectively, career-highs for both. Their success is not limited to the doubles court, though, as Martínez Sánchez achieved her career-high in singles - No.30 - the same day as her career-high in doubles, November 2, 2009.
"I really believe that doubles helps my singles," said Martínez Sánchez, who won the first two Tour singles titles of her career this year in Bogotá and Bastad. "They are equally important to me. It also helps me improve a lot of my shots, so it gives me more confidence on the court when I'm playing singles matches."
Llagostera Vives achieved her career-high in singles of No.35 in June 2005 and has two Tour singles titles to her credit - Rabat in 2005 and Bogotá in 2008.
As the Spaniards look toward 2010, improving their results in Grand Slams will surely be one of their goals. They were fairly consistent in the majors this year, reaching the quarters of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, but they certainly have the capability of going further.
