Duo upset Petrova/ Srebotnik in the final
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, of the United States, and Sania Mirza, of India, won their fourth title on tour as a team and their second of the season with an upset win over second seeds Nadia Petrova and Katrina Srebotnik 64 26 107 to win the WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday.
After the win, Mirza, a crowd favourite in Dubai, commented, “When you play a final it’s not really just about tennis – it’s a lot about nerves and trying to keep positive. It’s the ones who are gutsy, or gutsier than the others at that given point of time, who come through. When we went down 4-0 in the second set we were a little passive and defensive. When you play people like Nadia and Kata, you have to be offensive. They’re both 6′ tall, to start with. We knew we had to attack more. And we knew that in a super tie-break anything can happen.”
Sania added, “We’re great friends, of course, but I think more than that we really enjoy playing tennis. There’s no point getting down on yourself. That kind of works for us. Maybe it doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for us. Even when we’re smiling in between points, we know when we play it’s going to be intense again and we’re going to be right back. I like to smile and enjoy tennis and competing, and live for moments like that. Fortunately I found somebody who can do that too.”
Mattek-Sands commented, “I’ve always said my whole career that playing doubles is better than any practice session you can do. You’re serving, you’re returning, you’re playing points, you’re under pressure. But what Sania said is true – physically it can be an issue. You have to keep up and be able to play twice a day, and week in and week out.”
This was Sania’s 16th doubles title on tour and Mattek-Sands 12th.
Petrova and Srebotnik lost in the finals on the tour for the second week in a row – losing to Italians Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani in Doha last week.
Sania has stopped playing singles to focus on doubles and protect her body from breaking down to injuries often.
source: http://www.tennisworldusa.org / WTA Tennis by Prakash / February 24th, 2013