Sania Mirza clinches 43rd WTA title at Ostrava Open with Shuai Zhang in women's doubles

India's ace tennis player Sania Mirza won her first title of the season as she and her Chinese partner Shuai Zhang were seeded second and beat the third-seeded duo of Kaitlyn Christian and Erin Routliffe in the women’s doubles final in the Ostrava Open at the CEZ Arena on Sunday. This was Mirza's 43rd career title. The second-seeded duo defeated American Christian and New Zealander Routliffe 6-3, 6-2 in just one hour and four minutes. After the match tennis pro, Arina Rodionova was quick to compliment the Indian tennis star for her haul of 43 career titles saying that she couldn't even count to 43 let alone win those many trophies. Rodionova said, "43...... that’s ridiculous. I can’t even count till 43 let alone win that many tournaments."

The semi-finals of the Ostrava Open

Before the final, Mirza and Zhang defeated the Japanese duo of Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the ATP 500 tournament. The second-seeded duo had been playing some top-notch tennis through the tournament but the semi-final was a tough one against the Japanese duo that was seeded fourth. Mirza-Zhang started off with a bang and led 4-0 in the first set. They were broken in the fifth game but that did not phase them one bit as they put their heads down and went on to claim the first set 6-2.

The Japanese duo put up more of a fight in the second set as they did have a chance to win the set by breaking late into the set. But of course, Mirza-Zhang never gave in and fought back as they broke the next game to level the score in the second set. With the score level at 5-5, they took their game a notch higher as they went on to win the next to games back to back to seal their spot in the final of the all women's ATP 500 tournament.

This was Sania’s second final of the season, following a runner-up finish at the WTA 250 Cleveland event in the US last month with Christina McHale where they lost to the first seeded Japanese duo of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara. Before that in the semi-final of the Qatar Open, Mirza and Andreja Klepac lost to Demi Schuurs and Nicole Melichar-Martinez. It was a very hard-fought match that ended 7-5, 2-6, 10-5.

(Image: @SAI_Media/ Twitter)