Sania-Bethanie in final of Dubai Tennis Championships

Sania Mirza earned a shot at her second title of the season with partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands as they reached the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, in Dubai on Friday.

The unseeded Indo-American pair took out Australia's Anastasia Rodionova and Zimbabwe's Cara Black 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals of the $ 2,000,000 hard court event.

Sania and Bethanie had to work hard for points as Black and Rodionova fought well in the contest, lasting in one hour and 20 minutes.

Sania and Bethanie now await winner of the other semifinal between the pairs of Nuria Llagostera Vives/Jie Zheng and Nadia Petrova/ Katarina Srebotnik.

The two players had won the Brisbane International last month to make a superb start to the 2013 season.

Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters