Third seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova were stunned by unseeded pair Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan in the Miami Open final on 3 April.
The Indo-Czech pair lost 6-4, 6-3 to the unseeded pair, who were playing their first tournament together.
Dabrowski and Xu won eight out of nine games to lead by a set and 4-1 after they were down a break at the beginning of the match. The Canadian-Chinese duo went on to win their first Premier Mandatory title.
Xu and Dabrowski had practice together at the BNP Paribas Open but had never been on the same court – as partners or as opponents.
The first-timers knocked out eighth seeds before stunning No 2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, No 4 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai and No 3 seeds Mirza and Strycova in the final.
Currently, World Number seven in the women’s doubles ranking, Sania, split with long time doubles partner Martina Hingis in August last year. Runners-up at the Apia International in Sydney, Mirza and Strycova suffered an upset in the third round of their first Australian Open this year.
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