Sania Mirza wins Ostrava Open, her first title in 2021

India's ace female tennis player Sania Mirza lifted her first title of the year at the Ostrava Open as she paired up with China's Zhang Shuai in women's doubles to beat USA's Kaitlyn Christian and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe in the final on Sunday.

Sania, who played her second final this year since the Cleveland Championships last month, beat her opponents in straight sets by 6-3, 6-2 in a span of a little bit more than an hour. 

Mirza won a title after a span of 617 days since she won the last time at the Hobart Open in January 2020, when she returned to the tennis court post her maternity break. The second-seeded Indo-Chinese pair had their third-seeded opponent on their back foot from the very beginning of the match.

This is Sania Mirza's 43rd WTA title and her first 500 level title which she won after her maternity break.

Though things were levelled up at 2-2 in the first game, Sania and Zhang earned a breakpoint to lead 4-2 and eventually win the first set at 6-3. In the second set, Sania and Zhang won early break points to lead 2-1 and held their nerves to pack a successive lead 3-1. A well-coordinated chalked out plan coupled with their agility saw the Indo-Chinese pair put continuous pressure on the third-seeded, who could just win one more game. 

Sania and Zhang dominated the show and pulled off a sensational victory. 

Mirza and Zhang paired up for the first time in 2021. They played the Luxembourg Open last week, where they had reached the quarterfinals.