Sania-Barbora lose in Miami Open final
Favourites Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova were upset by the unseeded pairing of Gabriela Dabrowski and Yifan Xu in the women’s doubles final at the Miami Open.
The third-seeded Indo-Czech pair of Mirza and Strycova were expected to lift their first title of 2017 but fell to the Canadian-Chinese pair that took the hard way to reach the final.
Dabrowski-Xu took 68 minutes to finish off the final in straight sets, winning 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday.
Mirza-Strycova had started the match well, taking an early lead with a break in the opening game of the first set. However, Dabrowski and Xu fought back to win the first set and worry the third seeds.
They further established their foothold on the match by attacking in the second set to go 4-1 up. Mirza-Strycova managed to claw their way back by stabilising the scoreline but the eventual winners served out the match in the ninth game.
This was the second defeat in a women’s doubles final for MirzaStrycova in 2017 having lost at the Sydney International in January.
THIS WAS THE SECOND LOSS IN A WOMEN’S DOUBLES FINAL FOR MIRZASTRYCOVA IN 2017 HAVING LOST AT THE SYDNEY EVENT IN JANUARY.
Mirza was looking for her second title of the year, having won the Brisbane International with Bethanie Mattek-Sands just a week before her loss in Sydney.
Mirza and Strycova had also played together in Indian Wells last month, where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Prior to that, they lost semifinal matches in the Qatar Open and Dubai Open in February.
GIANT KILLERS
Dabrowski and Xu had come together as a team just before the Miami Open and faced tough opposition on their way to the title. They beat eighth seeds Abigail Spears and Katarina Srebotnik in their first round match.
They then faced second seeds Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova in the quarterfinals. They managed to win in straight sets to reach the last-four stage.