Australian Open: Sania Mirza-Rohan Bopanna Sail Into Mixed Doubles Final
MELBOURNE, (IANS) – Indian ace Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna on January 24 soared into the final of the Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles event on January 25, beating third seed American-British pair Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski in the semifinals.
“Rohan Bopanna was my first mixed doubles partner when I was 14, and I am now 36 and Rohan is 42,” Sania said during her on-court interview. “It is special since it’s my last Slam, it is very emotional. Nerves are always there, but we managed to pull through.”
Sania is playing her last major as the six-time Grand Slam champion and earlier this month announced that she will retire from professional tennis at Dubai Tennis Championships, a WTA 1000 event, which begins on February 19.
The hour and 52-minute victory may as well be one of the most memorable of the 36-year-old’s career as it now gives her a chance to walk off the tennis courts with a seventh Grand Slam title.
Playing at the Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park, the two teams indulged in a neck-to-neck fight. Sania and Bopanna registered a 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-6 upset win over two-time Wimbledon champion pair Desirae-Skupski.
The Indian duo will face the winner of the match between Australia’s Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans and the Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos.
This will be the first time in five years that a Grand Slam final will have Indian representation. Bopanna had made the Australian Open mixed doubles final with Hungary’s Timea Babos in 2018 but ended up on the losing side.