Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her French partner Carolyn Garcia entered the women’s doubles pre-quarterfinal of the Dubai Open Tennis Tournament on Tuesday (18 February) with a convincing win over Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva and Slovenia’s Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik. The Indo-French pair of Sania and Garcia won the first round 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 over their Russian-Slovenian rival team.
Sania and Garcia will next take on fifth-seeded pair of Saisai Zheng who hails from China and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in the round of 16. Sania, 33, is returning to the court at Dubai Open after recovering from a calf injury which had forced her out of the Australian Open in January.
Sania had said before the start of the tournament that she was thankful to her physio who left no stones unturned to bring her back to the court.
“Quitting off a grand slam tournament due to an injury is a sad experience. Especially, when you are back into the game after a long break. But thanks to my physio Dr. Faisal Hayat Khan for making me fit for the tournament. I have started practicing and look forward to a great tournament,” Sania said.
The Indian tennis star’s, who was making a comeback to the professional circuit after becoming a mom ending her two-year sabbatical, first Grand Slam outing after maternity leave had a premature end after a calf injury forced her to pull out of mixed doubles match which she was scheduled to play alongside Rohan Bopanna. Later she had to retire midway from the ongoing women’s doubles match along with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok. Her injury also forced Rohan Bopanna to pair up with Nadiia for the mixed doubles event. The pair had managed to reach into the quarterfinal of the Australian Open.
However, Sania did enjoy a dream come back to the professional circuit as she along with Nadiia Kichenok had claimed the doubles title at the Hobart International earlier this year.
