CINCINNATI, OH, USA – When Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza announced the end of their illustrious partnership last week, all eyes were on the partners that the World Co-No.1s had chosen to play with at the US Open, which they won together last summer.

Hingis announced her intention to play with American powerhouse CoCo Vandeweghe, while Mirza opted to partner Czech veteran Barbora Strycova, who just claimed an Olympic Bronze medal in women’s doubles alongside Lucie Safarova; the pair upset three-time champions Venus Williams and Serena Williams in the first round.

“Sania asked me in Rio if I had someone to play with,” Strycova told WTA Insider in Tuesday’s Daily Dispatch from the Western & Southern Open. “Normally, I’m supposed to play with Misa, Michaella Krajicek, but she was playing singles in US Open qualies, so we weren’t sure if we were going to play together.

“So I was kind of free, and I had to give it a shot because she’s No.1 in the world and she asked me. I was really happy about that. We’ll try to play here and the US Open, and we’ll see how it goes. Maybe we’ll play together more after that.”

Strycova and Krajicek narrowly missed out on qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global last year, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. A Top 40 doubles player who has been ranked as high as No.14 back in 2011, Strycova plays doubles nearly every week in addition to singles, but has never partnered Mirza before.

They’ve faced off in the format eight times with different partners, and Mirza leads 5-3, her most recent win coming with Hingis against Strycova and Krajicek en route to last year’s US Open title.

“We’ve talked to each other a lot. She’s a funny girl and I think we’ll be good on court. She plays the kind of tennis I like; she goes for it and I will be at the net. I think we’ll be a good team.”

Strycova and Mirza are seeded No.7 in Cincinnati, and will play a tough team in Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova in the first round; Jurak and Rodionova won their first title as a pair back at the Aegon International in Eastbourne and reached a second final at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

Hear more from Strycova and compatriot Karolina Pliskova in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast: