Sania Mirza-Barbora Strycova go down fighting in final of Wuhan Open

However, after reaching the final of the Wuhan Open today, Mirza and Strycova had the worst possible start to the match. They were broken easily in the very first game and their opponents held on to their serve. It was always going to be hard to get back into the set against the American-Czech pair, who had not dropped a single set enroute to the finals.

In the next couple of games, both teams were able to hold their respective serves, and it was Safarova who got the better of her international team-mate again, coming back from 15-40 down to go up by two breaks. Things would get worse as the 30-year-old Indian World No. 1 was unable to gain any sort of control in the set which they eventually lost 1-6.

Matteck-Sands and Safarova came back stronger winning the next two games in a row taking a commanding 4-1 lead in the second set. Mirza and Safarova had one last bite at the game when they came back level on breaks in the 9th game of the set as the scorecard read 5-4.