WATCH | Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna on brink of history, make it to mixed doubles finals
(Twitter)
Indian tennis stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna cruised into the final of Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles competition on Wednesday after the duo beat third-seed pair Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski in the semifinals. The Indians won 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-6 against two-time Wimbledon champs.
Now they will face the winners of the match between Australia's Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans and the Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos. Coming back to the semis match, the Indians held their nerves in a crucial first set when the scores were locked at 6-6. They were clinical in the tie-breaker, which was the case in the second set too.
The Indian pair used their tons of experience to come out of the pressure situations and reach the Grand Slam final. Meanwhile, this is the first time in five years that any Indian player has managed to make it to the finals of a Grand Slam. Prior to this, Bopanna had reached the mixed doubles final at Australian Open with Hungary's Timea Babos in 2018 but ended up on the losing side.
This happens to be Mirza's last Grand Slam and would retire from professional tennis in February after playing at the Dubai Tennis Championships, a WTA 1000 event.
She has six major titles in doubles discipline -- three in women's doubles and as many as in mixed doubles -- with her maiden triumph coming in 2009 when she partnered Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title.
Class, consistency, longevity & beyond...😍🎾
— All India Tennis Association (@AITA__Tennis) January 25, 2023
What an extraordinary pair of Indian Tennis, take a bow #Sania_Mirza & #Rohan_Bopanna 🙌#Into_The_Final#Mixed_Doubles#Australian_Open pic.twitter.com/u8QiXMTrdy
