Australian Open: Sania Mirza-Rajeev Ram lose mixed doubles quarter-final, India’s challenge ends

India’s Sania Mirza and her American partner Rajeev Ram’s mixed doubles campaign at the Australian Open 2022 came to an end after losing their quarter-final match in Melbourne on Tuesday.

The unseeded pair lost the match 6-4, 7-6(5) in one hour and 30 minutes.

With Sania Mirza’s loss, India’s challenge at the Australian Open 2022 came to an end.

Sania Mirza and Rajeev Ram got broken in the first game and gave away two break points in the second to go 2-0 down in the first set. 

The experienced duo snatched the momentum back to take the next three games with Sania using her topspin lob to good effect.

Mirza and Ram, however, converted just one of the eight break points and allowed Fourlis and Kubler to win the first set in 40 minutes. 

The former Grand Slam winners, Sania Mirza and Rajeev Ram came back roaring in the second set, racing to a 4-1 lead. 

Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler, who defeated last year’s finalists Samantha Stosur and Matthew Ebden in the second round, clinched the next three games to level the score at 4-4. 

Mirza and Ram lost steam against the younger pair and consequently lost the set and match in the tie-breaker. 

On their way to the mixed doubles quarter-finals, the Indo-American pair had defeated Australia’s Ellen Perez and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands in the second round after coming up trumps against Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Nikola Cacic in the first.

Earlier, Sania Mirza made a first-round exit from the women’s doubles with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok.

Rohan Bopanna had also lost the opening round matches in both men’s and mixed doubles. No Indian tennis player made it past the qualifying round in the singles main draw.

Sania Mirza, who is playing her last season, had won the Australian Open mixed doubles title in 2009 with Mahesh Bhupathi. She also won a women’s doubles title with Martina Hingis in 2016.