Continuing her winning return to the WTA circuit, Sania Mirza reached the doubles semi-finals of the Qatar Open with Slovenian partner Andreja Klepac on Wednesday.
Former world No 1 Mirza and Klepac sailed into final four with a straight sets win over their higher-ranked rivals, beating fourth seeds Anna Blinkova and Gabriela Dabrowski 6-2, 6-0.
The Indo-Slovenian pair will next play second seeds Demi Schuurs and Nicole Melichar.
WTA 500 DOHA : MIRZA/KLEPAC UPSET 4TH SEEDS TO STORM INTO SF
— Indian Tennis Daily (@IndTennisDaily) March 3, 2021
The pair of @MirzaSania and Andreja Klepac registered a one sided victory to book their place in the semis
[QF] 🇸🇮Klepac/🇮🇳Mirza beat (4)🇷🇺Blinkova/🇨🇦Dabrowski 6-2 6-0 pic.twitter.com/1frqw2cf6u
#IndianTennis #QatarOpen
— The Field (@thefield_in) March 3, 2021
Into the semis! @MirzaSania and Andreja Klepac have defeated the 4th seeds Dabrowski / Blinkova 6-2, 6-0 to enter the final four. pic.twitter.com/ASRIpuBpaU
Elsewhere in the draw, top seeds Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova had defeated Dutch duo of Kiki Bertens and Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove 4-6 6-4 13-11 in another quarterfinal duel.
Earlier in the tournament, Mirza-Klepac won 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-5 against Nadiia Kichenok and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine in the opening round of the WTA 500 tournament.
It was Mirza’s first match in 12 months and incidentally it was at the Doha Open where she played last in February 2020 before pandemic halted the tennis competitions across the world. She herself had recovered from Covid-19 not long ago.