Australian Open: Sania-Rohan march into mixed doubles final

MELBOURNE: The mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna stormed into the finals of the mixed doubles competition at the ongoing Australian Open in Melbourne, after defeating British-American pairing of Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk in their semifinal match on Wednesday. The Indian pair eliminated the third seeds from the competition by a margin of 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-6 in a semifinal that lasted for one hour and 52 minutes.

They rolled into the semi-finals of the ongoing Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles event after the duo was handed a walkover in their quarters clash at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Mirza and Bopanna were slated to face Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko and David Vega Hernandez of Spain in their final-eight clash but advanced after their opponents decided to withdraw. Last year's Wimbledon was Sania Mirza's most recent participation in a Grand Slam semifinal.

The Croatian mixed doubles team of Mate Pavic and the Indian tennis player fell short against eventual champions Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski. She will play in her final Grand Slam event at the 2023 Australian Open because the Indian tennis pro will retire after the WTA tournament in Dubai later this month.

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, who advanced to the semi-finals of the Rio 2016 Olympics together, is India's last remaining challenger at the Australian Open in 2023. Sania Mirza's women's doubles campaign came to an end on Sunday, while Rohan Bopanna and his men's doubles partner Matthew Ebden tumbled out of the men's doubles competition on Friday.

The 365-year-old veteran has won three mixed doubles titles in her career, including Australian Open (2009), French Open (2012) and US Open (2014). She has also won three women's doubles titles.

Notably, Poland's Magda Linette continued her career-best run at a grand slam event as she stunned the former world number 1 Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic to reach the first-ever semifinal of a major tournament in her career.

Magda downed Pliskova by 6-3, 7-5. The world number 45 sent shockwaves in Rod Laver Arena by defeating the number 30 seed Pliskova in just 87 minutes to keep the Polish representation in the tournament going after current world number 1 Iga Swiatek crashed out in the round of 16.

Before this, she had never progressed beyond the third round of any major tournament and had last at that stage six times. "Maybe I still do not really believe it," Linette said with a smile in her post-match press conference as quoted by WTA.

In the semifinal, Linette will be facing fifth-seeded player Aryna Sabalenka. The winner of the match will be reaching their first-ever Grand Slam final. Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka stormed into the semifinals after a 10-year gap, defeating No.3 seed Jessica Pegula here at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. The two-time Australian Open champion produced a stunning performance to book a place in the semifinals, beating Pegula 6-4, 6-1 in a match that lasted for one hour and 37 minutes.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina trounced Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open 2023 at the Rod Laver Arena.

Elena Rybakina is the first player to book a spot in the Australian Open 2023 women's semifinals after triumphing in a battle of grand slam winners. The 22nd seed overpowered Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-4 in a one-hour and 19-minute encounter, becoming the first woman representing Kazakhstan to reach the final four at Melbourne Park.