Mirza wows her fans on comeback
Indo-French pair get past Kudryavtseva and Srebotnik to run into fifth seeds next
India’s Sania Mirza continued her comeback trail, teaming up with France’s Caroline Garcia to beat Alla Kudryavtseva and Dubai-based Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 to enter the second round of the doubles at the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open late yesterday.
Mirza, with a personal ranking of 258, did well to break on Srebotnik’s serve in the 10th game to take the opening set 6-4 in 32 minutes.
But in the second set, the Russian and Slovenian pair got the breakthrough on Garcia’s serve to lead 3-2 as they went ahead and won the set 6-4 to force the super tiebreaker.
In the tiebreak, Mirza and Garcia were off to a flyer with a healthy 5-1 lead.
Dream start
However, Kudryavtseva and Srebotnik dug in deep and won some tense points before the Indo-French pair drifted ahead 8-3 and then 8-5 to finally win it 10-8 and cement their place in the second round.
Mirza had a dream return to the WTA last month after the birth of her son in 2018. She teamed up with Ukraine’s Nadia Kitchenok to beat China’s Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai in
Mirza teamed up with Nadia Kitchenok to beat Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai in straight sets to win the title at the Hobart International.
straight sets to win the women’s doubles title at the Hobart International.
However, a calf muscle injury forced Sania to withdraw from her first round match at the Australian Open.
The Indian tennis diva, who once formed a world No 1 partnership with Martina Hingis, and Garcia will play fifth seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Saisai Zheng in their second round match on Court One late today.