Dubai Open: 3rd seeds Sania Mirza, Barbora Strycova lose to Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina in semis

New Delhi: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova suffered a straight sets defeat in the womens' doubles semi-final of Dubai Open on Friday.

The third seeds were beaten by the second seeded Russian pair of Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina 4-6, 3-6 in one hour 17 minutes.

The Indo-Czech pair started the match by breaking their opponents in the very first game of the match, but they failed to consolidate it, losing their serves twice in set.

The second set witnessed an altogether different scenario with Mirza and Strycova losing back-to-back serves in the second and fourth games.

They, however, managed to pull one back in the seventh game, but it was too little too late for the celebrated pair.

The Russians will play the winners of Hao-Ching Chan (TPE)-Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) and Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)-Shuai Peng (CHN) in the finals.

After parting ways with Swiss legend Martina Hingis, Mirza teamed up with Strycova last August. And since, they have won titles in Cincinnati and Tokyo.

The pair also reached finals at Wuhan and the quarter-finals of the US Open. In the season opening Grand Slam in Melbourne, they lost in the third round.