Wimbledon News: Sania Mirza ends her career with a semi-final loss
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Mate Pavic of Croatia missed out on a championship match spot in the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon after a hard-fought 6-4, 5-7, 4-6 loss to defending champions Neal Skupski of Great Britain and Desirae Krawczykon of America on July 6
Sania MirzaThe sixth-seeded pairing of multiple Grand Slam title winners Sania Mirza and Mate Pavic dominated the first set after taking control of the game with excellent serves. The duo built on the momentum to get a 4-2 lead in the second set. However, Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczykon pulled off an impressive reversal as they won five of the next six games to force the match into a decider.
The Indian-Croatian duo started strong in the third set and earned the first break of serve for the set. However, they were immediately broken back by Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczykon. Mate Pavic committed a double fault in the 12th game, allowing the defending champions to advance to the finals for the second consecutive year.
Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczykon broke the serve of Mate Pavic and Sania Mirza four times, fired four aces and won 77% of the points on the second serve to seal their victory after two hours and 16 minutes of play.
It was the best-mixed doubles performance of Sania Mirza at Wimbledon. The six-time Grand Slam winner from India had previously reached the Last-8 three times in 2011, 2013 and 2015. She had recently announced that she would retire from professional tennis at the end of the season.
The loss ended the run of Sania Mirza at Wimbledon with one doubles title in the 2015 edition alongside Martina Hingis of Switzerland.
Sania Mirza is the most successful women's tennis player from India. She has won six Grand Slam trophies, including three mixed double titles at the Australian Open in 2009, French Open in 2012 and the US Open in 2014.
An emtional Sania Mirza wrote in instagram
The sport takes so much out of you. Mentally, physically, and emotionally...
The wins and the losses ..hours of hard work and sleepless nights after tough losses, But it gives you so much in return that not many other 'jobs' can provide you and for which I am forever grateful for the tears and the joy, the fight and the struggle.. the work we put in is all worth it in the end ..it wasn't meant to be this time Wimbledon. You have been nothing but spectacular. Playing here and winning over the last 20 years has been an honour. I will miss you until we meet again.