Dubai: Sania Mirza and her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands got the better of Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 2-6 10-7 to clinch the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships doubles title here on Saturday.
The unseeded Indo-American duo prevailed over the Russian-Slovenia in a tightly-contested final of the USD 2,000,000 hard court event which lasted for one hour and 32 minutes. Though Sania-Bethaine won the first set quite easily, the duo were made to struggle in the second set as Petrova and Srebotnik fought back strongly to make it 1-1.
However Sania and Bethanie came back strong in the third set and won the decider to win the title. Sania and Bethaine had made a superb start to the 2013 season by winning the Brisbane International last month and this was Sania's 16th championships wins in doubles.