A thrilling victory for Sania Mirza, over her fomer partner Martina Hingis!
Sania Mirza (L) and Barbora Strycova (Photo: AFP)
Third seeds Sania Mirza and her partner Barbora Strycova beat Martina Hingis and Yung-Jan Chan in 6-7 (8), 6-1(10-4) in a thrilling last four tie to reach the final of the Miami Open.
Friday’s match had extra motivation for Sania, as her former partner Hingis had knocked her out of the Indian Wells Open en route to winning the title in their last meeting.
And the fifth seeded duo of Hingis-Chan took the initiative in the match as their Indo-Czech opponents looked to be stuck in second gear in the opening set. Despite some inconsistent displays, Sania and Strycova pushed the set into a tiebreak, which after an epic see-sawing battle, went Hingis and Chan’s way.
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The second set, however, was something else as Sania and Styrcova raced into a 4-0 lead, breaking their opponents twice early to take the set 6-1. It was all power and precision packed into one unstoppable package and before Hingis and Chan knew it, the match was level at one-set all.
With the momentum well and truly in their favour, the supertiebreak saw Sania and Strycova waltz through, avenging their loss at the Indian Wells Open in the process.
Mirza-Styrcova will play the unseeded duo of Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan, who beat in the final on Sunday, who beat fourth-seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai 7-6 (8), 6-1 in their semifinal clash.
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