Dubai: The sixth-seeded pairing of Andrea Hlavackova and Shuai Peng upset fifth seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-3 to set a doubles final against Olympic champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina on Saturday.

Earlier in the evening, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro gold medallists had quelled a late fightback to defeat the popular Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova and book their first final in Dubai.

Crowned champions on August 14 last year at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Switzerland’s Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky, Makarova and Vesnina had to keep the Indo-Czech pair away in the second set as they threatened to draw level.

Peng and Hlavackova were in total control in the first set as an early break put them up with a 3-0 lead with breaks in the first and third games. The Czech-Chinese pairing then went on to take the opening set easily 6-1.

The second set was more even with both pairs breaking each other once before Peng and Hlavackova moved away and finished off with a second break in the ninth to take set and match in an hour and three minutes.

The No 2 seeded Russians and champions in Rio were pleased with the way they responded towards the end of the second set.

“Of course, we got a bit nervous are they are such a good pair. At first we found it hard to believe that we had won seven games in-a-row against them, leave alone beat them,” Vesnina, one of Mirza’s former doubles partner told media.

“It is never easy to beat them. And here we were leading 5-0. That lead made us lose our concentration a bit and we got a bit too relaxed I think. But when it became 5-3 then we told ourselves that we need to hit the ball inside the court,” Vesnina added.

“It was really important to win this game and be in a final in Dubai,” Makarova chipped in.

RESULTS

Women’s doubles semi-finals

Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina bt Sania Mirza/Barbora Strycova 6-4, 6-3

Andrea Hlavackova/Shuai Peng bt Hao-Ching Chan/Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-3

Order of Play on Saturday

Doubles final: (Start at 5pm) Andrea Hlavackova/Shuai Peng vs Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina