Charleston Open: Sania Mirza-Lucie Hradecka defeat top seeds to enter doubles final

Beginning the clay-court season in the best way possible, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, alongside Czech partner Lucie Hradecka stormed into the finals of the Charleston Open WTA 500 event at the Volvo Car Stadium, South Carolina.

Upsetting the top-seeded pair of Zhang Shuai and Caroline Dolehide in a nail-biting clash, 2-6, 6-4, 8-10, the duo of Sania Mirza and Lucie Hradecka continued their solid run and got the dream start to the clay swing.

While the first set was relatively easy for the Indo-Czech pair, the top-seeds upped their game in the second to force the match into a decider that was tricky on the nerves - but Mirza-Hradecka was able to maintain their calm and closed out the match to enter the finals of the WTA 500.

Sania Mirza, who announced during the Australian Open that this will be her final year on the tour, has been impressive in every tournament she has played in 2022 so far. In fact, with Hradecka, Mirza made it to two semi-finals already this year at the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Qatar Open, which were played on hard courts.

With the clay season also beginning now ahead of the French Open, Mirza's performance today is only reassuring as the 6-time Grand Slam champion made it to her first final of the year. 

In Mirza's last final outing, she was pairing one-half of her opponents from today - China's Zhang Shuai and on that occasion in September 2021, the duo of Mirza and Zhang Shuai had gone on to lift the title at the Ostrava Open.