Return Winners: the 2013 WTA Dubai doubles final

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza faced Katarina Srebotnik and Nadia Petrova for the title.

Playing together for the bulk of 2012, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza won their first title together in five years in Brussels, Belgium, on clay. The duo entered 2013 with heightened expectations and right off the bat, won the first tournament they entered, in Brisbane, Australia. However, that momentum didn’t carry over to Melbourne as they were upset in the first round. Reuniting in Qatar, the pair suffered another opening-round loss.

Unseeded in their next event in Dubai, Mattek-Sands and Mirza got back on track as they advanced to the championship match without dropping a set. There, they would face the second-seeded team of Katarina Srebotnik and Nadia Petrova, who had a roller-coaster ride through the tournament to this point: After only playing three games in the first round due to their opponents’ retirement, the duo was pushed to the brink in the quarterfinals before only dropping one game in the semifinals.

The two teams faced each other the year prior in the quarterfinals in Canada, when Srebotnik—newly split with her longtime partner Kveta Peschke—and Petrova beat Mattek-Sands and Mirza in a match tiebreak. Exchanging breaks in this match early, Mattek-Sands and Mirza gained another at the most opportune time, when Petrova served to stay in the set down 4-5, giving the unseeded team the opener.

In the second set, though, the second seeds stormed back. Huge groundstrokes from Petrova and quick reflexes at the net from Srebotnik helped them take an early 3-0 lead behind two breaks, and they would go on to level the match by winning the second set 6-2. The ensuing match tiebreak saw them gain an early lead, but Mirza and Mattek-Sands fought back to go up 9-7, with multiple championship points. Striking a perfect first serve, Mirza had to wait for the challenge to confirm the ace that clinched the pair’s second title of the young season.

1

For the first time in her career, Mattek-Sands won two doubles titles before February.

3

Playing in their fourth tournament since the summer of 2012, this was the third final for Srebotnik and Petrova.

4

Of Mirza’s 16 career doubles titles after this win, four came with Mattek-Sands: the most she’d won with any partner.