Sania-Hingis suffer heartbreak in Stuttgart Open final
Image Courtesy: © Twitter - Australian Open
Top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis lost the chance to win their 14th title together after suffering a defeat against second seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the final of the Stuttgart Open. The French pair beat Sania and Hingis 2-6, 6-1, 10-6 to lift the title on Sunday.
After defeating unseeded duo of Sabine Lisicki and Lucie Safarova in straight sets in the semi-final on Saturday, World No.1 duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis reached their first final since February, hoping to win their 14th title together. However, the second-seeded French Pair pulled off a stunning win to upset the Australian Open champions.
Garcia and Mladenovic, who came into the tournament fresh from their first title together in Charleston, went a set down after Mirza and Hingis broke them twice. Although they led the “first service points won” by a small margin of 72%-61%, Garcia and Mladenovic struggled against the prowess of the top seeds and surrendered the opening game 2-6.
It was all looking easy for Mirza and Hingis in the middle, but the second seeds bounced back in the second set by taking it 6-1 in a one-sided affair. Garcia and Mladenovic broke the top seeds twice and dominated the first service to take the match to a decider. The French pair seemed the more aggressive of the two pairs and once again showed it in the decider and took it 10-6 to win the title. Garcia and Mladenovic struck 25 winners in the match (
