Hsieh Su-Wei (L) of Chinese Taipei/Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic pose with their trophies during the awarding ceremony after winning the women's doubles final match against Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada/Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia at the 2020 WTA Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 28, 2020. (Photo by Nikku/Xinhua)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Top seeds Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic and Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei won a thrilling final for the women's doubles title at the WTA Qatar Open on Friday.
Strycova and Hsieh defeated sixth seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia 6-2, 5-7, 10-2 to seal their third title of the season.
With the victory, Hsieh and Strycova become just the second doubles team to sweep the WTA events in the Middle East by winning Doha and Dubai in the same year. Americans Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber also swept the Middle East in 2012.
"It also means a lot for us. It's not easy to always travel from Dubai, then here. We play also singles, so it's a lot of matches, but also it's tough mentally and physically," Strycova said after the match.
"We got together and it's great, I mean we are the second team to do this, so it's really unbelievable. We should be proud of us."
In addition, the victory will propel Hsieh back to the top of the WTA doubles rankings.
Hsieh added: "I kept telling her, 'Just relax in this tournament,' and then we won the first tournament in Dubai and then this tournament I say, 'Oh, just relax again,' and then she helped the team win the title again."
The victory improved Hsieh and Strycova's overall record to 17-1 this season, as their trophies from Doha and Dubai are accompanied by a victory at the Brisbane International to start the season. Their lone defeat came in the Australian Open final, where they were defeated by Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France.
"It feels unreal, kind of. I always say to myself that it's awesome, it's really great, it's a great effort what we are doing on the court, but we have to also appreciate it as well and not to take it like it's like normal, or whatever," Strycova said.
