In pic: Sania Mirza eyes the ball as she plays a match in the French Open tennis tournament – AP
Sania Wednesday created history by becoming the first Indian woman to enter a Grand Slam doubles final when she and Elena shocked fourth-seeded Americans Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
"We are ecstatic to be in the final. It is a dream for everyone whoever picks up a tennis racquet to be in the final of a slam. We have been playing very well together," Sania said.
"The partnership happened by chance. Elena is a good friend. We are of the same age and know each other from 14 years of age. We just randomly came together this year and and now are up for a slam together," Sania told TV channels.
Sania said they are the favourites in Friday's final.
"To be honest, we have been the surprise package this week. I don't think many people expected us to be in the final. We have defied odds this week and hope we can do it one more time. It will be about holding nerves," she said.
"Elena is an experienced player and has been in couple of finals in French Open here and in Wimbledon. I have also played couple of mixed doubles finals as well, so we have the edge over them. They never played in any slam finals. We have to come out with the goods for one more match."
"But sometimes the unseeded players can be tricky opponents because they have no pressure and nothing to lose."
The Czech pair shocked third-seeded Vania King of the US and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3.
Sania, who lifted a Grand Slam title when she won the mixed doubles with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi at the Australian Open in 2009 after losing the final the previous year, is in the midst of her best year on the Tour.
Sania has not only improved her singles ranking steadily to 72 before she came to Paris but she also made rapid progress in the doubles with Elena. The two women came together at the Qatar Open and quickly established themselves as a potent doubles combination.
Sania and Elena were seeded seventh here. Their win Wednesday was preceded by their stunner against top seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pannetta at Stade Roland Garros.
In the semi-finals, the two were up against experienced doubles players.
The 37-year-old Raymond is a former French Open doubles champion and her partner Huber has won four Grand Slam doubles titles with Zimbabwean Cara Black, but she doesn't have the French Open title to her credit yet.
Sania and Elena played some brilliant tennis to go 4-1 up in the first set and in 30 minutes they were a set up. However, a stream of errors saw them lose the second set. Both the players came back strongly in the decider and Elena served out the set and the match.
"Last night we were very excited. It was a tight match and it came against players who have won grand slams before. So for us it was like believing that we could beat them," Sania said.
Sania and Elena, who won titles at Indian Wells and Charleston, hold a 20-4 record. Until Wednesday, they had not dropped a set in the tournament.
The two finalists have met once before, with Sania and Elena winning in straight sets in the first round at Indian Wells. Elena is the only one of the four finalists to play in a Grand Slam women's doubles final, having been runner-up at the 2009 French Open alongside Victoria Azarenka and in 2010 Wimbledon alongside Vera Zvonareva.
Hlavackova and Hradecka are the second unseeded French Open finalists in 30 years, the others being the 2008 runners-up Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone. If they win Friday, they would be the sixth unseeded team to capture a major in three decades. —IANS
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