Sania-Dodig pair prevails in clash against Bopanna-Gabriela

Team Udayavani, Jan 25, 2017, 12:00 PM IST

Melbourne (Australia): Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig held their nerves and saved two match points against Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski before pulling off a tense win to seal a place in the mixed doubles semi-finals of the Australian Open, here today.

The second seeded Indo-Croatian team of Sania and Dodig felt the heat in the Super Tie-breaker but kept clam and not only saved two match points but also walked away with a 6-4 3-6 12-10 win in the quarterfinals.

Bopanna and Canadian Gabriela were left to rue missed chances in the 67-minute match.

With this defeat, Bopanna’s campaign has ended at the first Grand Slam of the season. He had lost in the men’s doubles second round with new parter Pablo Cuevas.

Sania had also lost in the women’s doubles pre-quarterfinals with Barbora Strycova but is still alive for her overall seventh and fourth mixed doubles Grand Slam title.

In the next match she could face Leander Paes and Martina Hingis, who are playing their quarterfinal against local favourites Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth.

Meanwhile, Zeel Desai has reached the junior girls’ singles quarterfinals as her opponent, fifth seed Serbian, Olga Danilovic, retired after leading the opening set 5-3.