Dubai Open: Sania Mirza-Barbora Strycova ease into women's doubles semis after thrilling quarter-final win

Dubai: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her partner Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic booked their place in the semi-finals of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships following a straight-sets victory in their women`s doubles clash here last evening.

The third seeded duo registered a convincing 6-2, 7-5 win over seventh seeded American pair of Abigail Spears and Katarina Srebotnik in a thrilling quarter-final encounter that lasted just one hour and 28 minutes.

Interestingly, Spears and Srebotnik were the same team who stopped the Indo-Czech duo to reach the last four of the Qatar Open last week.

Mirza and Strycova will now take on Russian pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina for a place in the summit showdown.

Mirza and Strycova joined forces in August last year after the Indian tennis star parted ways with Swiss player Martina Hingis and they tasted success soon after.

They went on to win Cincinnati and Tokyo before reaching the finals at Wuhan and the quarter-finals of the US Open.