The third seeded pair of Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova failed to reach the final of the Dubai Open after losing 6-4, 6-3 to the Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in last-four clash on Friday.
The Russians dominated the game, winning the first set with relative ease. The same story followed in the second with Mirza and Strycova slumping to a 0-5 deficit. However, they rallied to win three games on the trot to stretch their opponents.
Makarova and Vesina wrested back the momentum soon enough to seal a straight-sets win and secure safe passage to the final.
They now await the winners of the other semifinal match to be played between Hao-Ching Chan-Yaroslava Shvedova and Andrea Hlavackova-Shuai Peng.
This was the Indo-Czech pair’s second straight loss in the semi-final this year. Last week, they had exited the Qatar Open at the same stage.
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