Pan Pacific Open | Mirza and Strycova through to final despite dropping first set
Sania Mirza and her new partner Barbora Strycova are through to the final of the Pan Pacific Open after winning a thrilling encounter against Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6, 6-4, 10-5. This will be the Indo-Czech duo's second final appearance since pairing up last month.
After a comfortable win over Miyu Kato and Yifan Xu in straight sets in the quarterfinal, Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova were pushed to their limits in a gripping semifinal encounter against the unseeded pair of Dabrowski and Sanchez.
The Indo-Czech pair were broken twice in the opening set, and although they did manage to get one break back, it was not enough to stop Dabrowski-Sanchez from winning the first set 6-4. However, Mirza and Strycova improved their service game drastically in the second set and managed to get a break of their won, which was enough for them win the set and draw level at 1-1. This took the match to a tie-breaking third set. With the momentum in their favour, Mirza and Strycova won the decider comfortably at 10-5 to book their place in the final.
The duo will now face the Chinese pair of Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang as they look to win their second title as a pair after lifting the Cincinnati Open last month.