Sania Mirza suffers defeat in second round of women's doubles

MELBOURNE: India tennis ace Sania Mirza's women's doubles career at the Grand Slam came to a disappointing end after she suffered a Round 2 defeat in the ongoing Australian Open 2023 on Sunday.

Sania and her women's doubles partner Anna Danilina lost to the unseeded duo of Anhelina Kalinina and Alison Van Uytvanck. Playing at Court 7, Mirza and Danilina lost by a margin of 4-6, 6-4, 2-6 at Melbourne Park.

Given that Mirza, a six-time Major champion, will retire after the Dubai Open next month, this was her final appearance in a women's doubles Grand Slam match. Earlier in the day, the all-French duo of Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin defeated the event's alternates, N Sriam Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan in a straight set 6-4, 6-4

In the opening set of the match, Mirza-Danilina nearly had an ideal start as they contested the Van Uytvanck serve. Five break points were available during the 11-minute match, but none were converted since the Belgian was able to hold serve. Earlier, Sania Mirza and Anna Danilina overpowered the Hungarian-American team of Dalma Galfi and Bernarda Pera to advance to the second round of women's doubles.

On the other hand, the Indian ace mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna breezed into the second round at the Australian Open 2023 at Melbourne Park on Saturday.

The semi-finalists from Rio 2016 Saina Mirza and Rohan Bopanna defeated Australian wild card entry Jaimee Fourlis and Luke Saville 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes.

The Indian pair suffered an early setback in the match, having been broken in the fourth game. After a prompt retort, Mirza and Bopanna took six of the next eight games to capture the opening set.

As they gained momentum, Mirza and Bopanna maintained their hold on the second set and defeated Jaimee Fourlis and Luke Saville in the seventh and ninth games to win the set and the match. Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won the Australian Open mixed doubles championship in 2009.