The Indo-Czech pair received a wild card for the tournament and will now take on Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the quarterfinals
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The Indo-Czech pair of Sania Mirza and Lucie Hradecka overcame World No.12 Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands and Chinese Taipei’s Chan Hao-Ching 7-6, 5-7, 11-9 in one hour 55 minutes on Tuesday night to enter the women’s doubles quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. It was a hard fought win for the Indo-Czech pair as they came back stronger after losing the second set and held their nerves to close the game and advance to the next round. The pair who had received a wild card for the tournament will now take on Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 tournament.
The Indo-Czech pair’s next opponent 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.
Mirza-Hradecka broke Demi Schuurs and Chan Hao-ching early to take a 3-1 lead. However, their opponent made a strong comeback in the second set, to take the match to the tie-breaker.
Mirza lifted the Dubai Tennis Championship in 2013 with USA’s Bethanie Mattek-Sand.
India’s most accomplished women’s tennis player will hang up her boots after the ongoing season. She has won six Grand Slam titles which includes three mixed doubles trophies.
Mirza feels that her recovery rate has reduced and she wants to give more time to her son who has been traveling with her for the tournaments across the globe.
“There’s a bunch reasons for it. It’s not as simple as ‘okay I’m not going to play’. I do feel my recovery is taking longer, I do feel, considering my son is three years old, I’m putting him at risk by travelling so much with him, that’s something I have to take into account. Unfortunately, the pandemic is making us take certain decision for the well-being of ourself and family” Mirza had earlier said at the post-match press conference.
“Also, my body is wearing down. My knee was really hurting today and I’m not saying that’s the reason we lost but I do think that it is taking time to recover as I’m getting older,” she said.
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