Mirza-Strycova go down in final of Apia International

Top seeds Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Czech Republic's Barbora Strycova lost to Hungary's Timea Babos and Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final of the Apia International tennis tournament here on Friday.

Mirza and Strycova lost to their unseeded opponents 4-6, 4-6 in an hour and 12 minutes.

This was Mirza and Strycova's first tournament together this year and the last one before the Australian Open gets underway on January 16. The Indian teamed up with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win last week's Brisbane International tournament.

The first set was a close affair, with a point proving to be the difference as Mirza and Strycova won 25 points to 26 for Babos and Pavlyuchenkova.

Mirza and Strycova were narrowly behind in the second set too, winning 27 points to their opponents' 30.

Babos and Pavlyuchenkova broke serve twice before Mirza and Strycova fought back to equal the score.

The duo was, however, broken a third time at a crucial phase of the contest before Babos and Pavlyuchenkova held their nerves to serve out the match.

Mirza won titles in Brisbane and Sydney with Martina Hingis last year before going on to win the Australian Open with the Swiss great.

--IANS

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