Tennis ace Sania Mirza and her mixed doubles partner Ivan Dodig thrashed local favourites Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth today to ease into the final at the Australian Open. With this win, Sania cleared another step (one win away) to clinch her 7th Grand Slam title.
Sania and her Croatian partner Ivan emerged triumphant by 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 in a hard-fought match that lasted an hour and 18 minutes. The second-seeded pair beat a pair that had earlier beaten the high-ranked but wildcard pairing of Leander Paes and Martina Hingis in the previous round.
Mirza and Dodig will next face off with the winners of the other semifinal between Elina Svitolina/Chris Guccione -- Abigail Spears/Juan Sebastian Cabal.
Also read: Ace Against Odds: The Sania Mirza Story
Mirza-Dodig, who had defeated India’s other mixed doubles pairing Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski in the quarterfinals, started off their semifinal game with a struggle to serve properly with as many as seven breaks of serves in total. But the start of the second set saw Groth having a hard time with a medical timeout which gave him an extended period.
In the deciding match tiebreak, the Indo-Croatian pair took an 8-3 lead and Mirza got a chance to close the match on the second set point.
READ: Sania Mirza’s Career’s Greatest Achievements
Sania, till date, has three mixed doubles titles, including the last one -- the 2014 US Open with Brazilian Bruno Soares. This time paring with Dodig, there is a high chance that she would avenge her last year’s disappointment when she reached the French Open final but lost to compatriot Leander Paes and her then doubles partner Martina Hingis in the summit clash.
Sania now stands as the lone Indian survivor in the first Grand Slam of the season.
Watch here to know more of the Sania Mirza story
Read more from our Australian Open series here
Also Read: Seven things to know about this Indian girl who broke Sania Mirza’s record
Feature Image Credit: sportsrediscovered.com
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