Sania Mirza missed out on winning her second Grand Slam title as she and her partner Elena Vesnina lost the French Open women’s doubles final to unseeded Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka on Friday.
Unforced errors cost the seventh seed Indo-Russian pair dearly as they lost the summit clash 4-6, 3-6 in one hour and 21 minutes at Court Suzanne Lenglen.
It was a good opportunity for Sania to add a women’s doubles title to her already Australian Open mixed doubles trophy, which she won along with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009 but it turned to be an off day for the Indian and her partner Vesnina.
Nevertheless, Sania did create a history of sorts by becoming first Indian female tennis player to reach the women’s doubles final. Vesnina struggled with her first serve throughout and Sania’s feeble shots at the net only helped the cause of the Czech pair.
Even the Czech players, especially Andrea, struggled with the first serve in windy conditions but the Indo-Russian pair committed more unforced errors. A strong show by Lucie turned out to be the real difference between the two teams as she did not drop her serve even once and had good control over her strokes.
