The only other time Bethanie Mattek and Sania Mirza teamed together for doubles, they made the semifinals of the Tier II Stanford event last year.

But even before the two combined to beat Alina Jidkova and Tatiana Poutchek, 7-6 (4), 7-5, in the Western & Southern Women’s Open doubles final Sunday, they decided they enjoyed their partnership enough to continue it at the U.S. Open.

A championship in one tournament and a semifinals appearance in another aren’t terrible results.

“That’s not bad,” Mirza said.

Not bad at all. Their semifinal opponents, Liga Dekmeijere and Ipek Senoglu, pushed the top-seeded Mirza and Mattek to a third-set tiebreak – Mirza still had to recover mentally from losing her W&S semifinals singles match earlier Saturday – but the two were good enough to get by them and then past Jidkova and Poutchek.

They just hope they can produce the same chemistry during the U.S. Open.

“The more we play together, the more comfortable we’re going to get with each other,” said Mirza, who lost in the W&S doubles finals last year with Marta Domachowska but is now a five-time doubles champion. “Today was not one of our best matches. We played better matches during the week. We helped each other, we played solid and if we keep doing that, we can definitely have a chance.”

Mattek agrees. She just thinks the two make a good team.

“It’s a good mixture,” said Mattek, who won the second doubles title of her career. “We’re both pretty solid from the baseline. Sania offers a lot of power, and it gives me the ability to poach and move and get to the net. On the serves, we open each other up and play it real aggressive. I think people get scared of our shots. It’s pretty intimidating to have that coming at you.”

AMANMURADOVA MAKES FANS – Akgul Amanmuradova made quite an impression on the Cincinnati fans last week.

Slogging her way through three qualifying matches to make the W&S main singles draw, the Uzbekistan native easily knocked off wild card Connie Hsu in the first round before beating Mattek in a third-set tiebreak (Amanmuradova was behind 4-0 in the third set).

She didn’t have many problems with Lilia Osterloh to reach the semifinals, where she gave Akiko Morigami a tough match before falling 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 Saturday.

But she won herself some new fans, who loudly cheered for her as she left Center Court for the final time.

“That’s what makes me happy,” Amanmuradova said after the loss. “That’s why I’m telling you mentally I’m fine. Tennis is not only money, points and place in the rankings. When you have a match like that and the people are just clapping, it’s amazing. I’ve never had that before.”

Amanmuradova, ranked No. 141 in the world last week, was especially moved because she entered the W&S as an unknown to the American audience.

“When I play at home, it’s home,” she said. “People who know me are going to support me. But here, I’m not from the U.S. People cheer you up when I was down in the third set. I never felt this atmosphere. … Points, you can lose. Money, you have. Tomorrow, you may not have it. But you never forget this thing.”

ATTENDANCE DOWN – Not surprisingly, the W&S announced its lowest attendance figures since the tournament returned in 2004.

For Sunday’s finals matches, 3,029 attended the Lindner Family Tennis Center, and for the tournament overall, which was hurt by Serena Williams and other top-seeded players withdrawing, 37,196 made their way to the event.

Compared to 2005, also a tournament that didn’t feature one of tennis’ biggest names, 38,927 fans attended.

The biggest crowds came in 2004 when a total of 50,080 fans watched Lindsay Davenport make her run to the title and last year when 44,026 saw Serena Williams advance to the semifinals.