Dubai Tennis Championships: Sania Mirza, Lucie advance into doubles QFs

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

Sania Mirza-Lucie Hradecka defeated the world number 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 clash.

The Indo-Czech pair broke Demi Schuurs and Chan Hao-ching early to take a 3-1 lead. However their opponents recovered to make it a close finish, Mirza and Hradecka held their nerves to clinch the set in the tie-breaker.

Schuurs and Hao-ching came back strong in the second set as they clinched it to stretch the match into the super tie-breaker. However, in the super tie-breaker, the duo who received wildcards for the WTA 500 tournament won and eventually booked their place in the quarter-finals.

Mirza and her partner Hradecka will next take on Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the quarters.

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