Guwahati: Defeating the British-American team of Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk in their semifinal match on Wednesday, the mixed doubles team of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna quickly advanced to the finals of the ongoing Australian Open in Melbourne.
The Indian duo defeated the third seeds in a semifinal match that lasted one hour and 52 minutes by scores of 7-6(5), 6-7(5), and 10-6.
The duo received a walkover in their matchup in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles competition on Tuesday at Melbourne Park.
Mirza and Bopanna advanced to the final eight despite being paired against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and David Vega Hernandez of Spain, respectively.
Sania Mirza’s most recent appearance in a Grand Slam semifinal was at Wimbledon last year. Mate Pavic and the Indian tennis player, a Croatian mixed doubles combo, lost to eventual champions Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski.
The Indian tennis player will retire after the WTA tournament in Dubai later this month, so she will compete in her final Grand Slam event at the 2023 Australian Open.
India’s only surviving opponent at the Australian Open in 2023 is Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, who advanced to the semi-finals of the Rio 2016 Olympics together.
On Sunday, Sania Mirza’s women’s doubles campaign was over, and on Friday, Rohan Bopanna and his male partner Matthew Ebden were eliminated from the men’s doubles competition.
Three mixed doubles championships have been won by the 365-year-old veteran in her career, including the Australian Open (2009), French Open (2012), and US Open (2014). Additionally, she has three titles in women’s doubles.
Notably, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic was shocked by Poland’s Magda Linette as she advanced to the first semifinal of a major tournament of her career. Linette was continuing her career-best run at a grand slam event.
Pliskova was defeated by Magda 6-3, 7-5. Iga Swiatek, the current world number one, lost in the round of 16, ending Poland’s participation in the competition. The world number 45 stunned Rod Laver Arena by defeating the number 30 seed Pliskova in just 87 minutes.
She had never advanced past the third round of a major competition prior to this and had finished last 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.
Linette will compete against fifth-seeded athlete Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinal. The contest’s victor will advance to their first Grand Slam final.
After a 10-year hiatus, Victoria Azarenka defeated No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula on Tuesday at Rod Laver Arena to advance through to the semifinals.
In a match that lasted one hour and 37 minutes, the two-time Australian Open winner defeated Pegula with a surprising performance to go to the semifinals.
Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion, defeated Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday to advance to the Australian Open 2023 semifinals at the Rod Laver Arena.
Following her victory in a matchup of grand slam champions, Elena Rybakina becomes the first player to secure a place in the women’s semifinals of the 2023 Australian Open.
The 22nd seed defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-4 in a one-hour, 19-minute match to advance to Melbourne Park’s final four as the first female representative of Kazakhstan.