Sania Mirza is one victory away from winning her third mixed doubles Grand Slam crown after she and Horia Tecau of Romania waltzed into the final at the Australian Open, beating defending champions Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden of Australia 2-6, 6-3, 10-2 at Melbourne Park on Friday.
The Indian ace and Tecau came back strongly after losing the first set to emerge triumphant in 73 minutes.
If Sania-Tecau win the final, it will be the Indian's second Australian Open mixed doubles title, as she won the crown in 2009 partnering Mahesh Bhupathi.
She and Bhupathi finished runners-up in the tournament in 2008 and also won the French Open in 2012.
Sania-Tecau joined forces last season at Wimbledon, where they made the quarter-finals. They then played together at the US Open, where they entered the third round.
In Friday's semi-finals, they were outplayed in the opening set, failing to earn a single break-point.
Gajdosova-Ebden were distinctly the better pair with their first service as they pocketed the opener in 28 minutes.
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But the Indo-Romanian combination roared back into the match in the second set. They held serve and broke Jarmila in the fourth game to level the set scores.
The sixth seeds were also helped by nine unforced errors committed by their opponents.
In the super tie-breaker, Sania-Tecau were immaculate and did not commit a single unforced error en route to outwitting the local favourites.
They will meet Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor (France/Canada), who beat Zheng Jie/Scott Lipsky (China/United States) 6-3, 6-1 in the other semi-final.
Sania, partnering Cara Black, lost in the women's doubles quarter-finals earlier.
The Australians had earlier beaten second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Katarina Sebrotnik in the quarter-finals.
Image: Sania Mirza of India and Horia Tecau of Romania
Photograph: Renee McKay/Getty Images
