Dubai Tennis Championships: Sania Mirza-Lucie Hradecka make doubles quarter-finals

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her partner Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic progressed to the women’s doubles quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2022 on Tuesday.

Sania Mirza-Lucie Hradecka defeated world No. 12 Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands and Chan Hao-ching of Chinese Taipei 7(7)-6(3), 5-7, 11-9 in the round of 16.

The makeshift Indo-Czech pair, who entered the WTA 500 event as wildcards, began the first set strongly and broke Demi Schuurs and Chan Hao-ching early to take a 3-1 lead.

Although Schuurs and Hao-ching recovered to make it a close finish, Mirza and Hradecka held their nerves to clinch the set in the tie-breaker.

The second set began on equal footing with both pairs level at 5-5. Schuurs and Hao-ching, however, took the next two games to stretch the match into the super tie-breaker. 

Schuurs and Hao-ching led the super tie-breaker in the early exchanges and almost had the match in pocket with an 8-5 lead. However, Mirza and Hradecka took the next four points and eventually booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Six-time Grand Slam winner Sania Mirza and her partner Lucie Hradecka will next take on Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the quarters.

Aoyama and Krunic upset fourth seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 7(7)-6(5), 2-6, 10-5 in their round of 16 clash.

Sania Mirza, who is set to retire from professional tennis after this year, was last seen in action at the Australian Open 2022. She made the quarter-finals in mixed doubles and crashed out in the first round of women’s doubles at Sydney.