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28 March 2024

Sania books berth in WTA doubles final

Sania Mirza of India reacts to a missed shot during the women’s quarter-final against Peng Shuai of China at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston on Saturday. (REUTERS)

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By Agencies

 

India’s tennis star Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina notched up a straight-sets win over Ji Zheng and Peng Shuai to enter the final of the Family Circle Cup WTA event in Charleston on Sunday.
The unseeded Indo-Russian pair won 6-2 7-5 to enter the finals and be in contention for their second WTA title together after the triumph at Indian Wells last month.
Mirza and Vesnina will now take on the fourth-seeded American duo of Bethannie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy.
Interestingly, the Indo-Russian combine dispatched the American pair 6-0 7-5 in the finals of the Indian Wells event.
In Saturday’s contest, that lasted a little over an hour, Mirza and Vesnina dominated the opening set, converting four break points to quite literally run away with it.
The second set turned out to be a humdinger as Mirza and Vesnina ended up conceding three breaks of serve, while converting the four opportunities they got.
But the Indo-Russian pair did well to hold their nerves and come out triumphant in the end.

Earlier, Mirza bowed out of the singles event with a 6-2 2-6 2-6 quarter-final defeat against Chinese 11th seed Peng Shuai.

In the doubles quarter-finals, the pair of Mirza and Vesnina came from behind to beat Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia 3-6 6-2 10-8.  
Mirza qualified to play in her first quarter-finals at a WTA Tour tournament after three and a half years after defeating German wildcard Sabine Lisicki 6-4 6-4.