By Shikha Sreenivas
Sania Mirza has now reached the mixed doubles final, in competition for a Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. She and her Croatian partner Ivan Dodig beat beat the Australian pair Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth in the semifinal on Friday, with a 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 win.
The Indo-Croatian team had a mild start, when they were seeded second in the tournament. The match with the Australian local favourites led to a super tie-break. Now, Mirza and Dodig are set to play the winner of the second semi-finals, who are Juan Cabal and and Abigail Spears, of Colombia and America respectively. This match happens tomorrow at 10.30 pm, Indian Standard Time.
Mirza already has six Grand Slam titles under her belt. The former No. 1 in women’s doubles, could be winning her second Grand Slam title in mixed doubles at the Australian Open if she beats the American-Colombian duo tomorrow. This is the second time for the Mirza-Dodig pair to reach a Grand Slam final, the previous time they lost to Martina Hingis at Leander Paes in the French Open, last year.
The match started slowly for the number two seeds, when they were down 2-4 in the beginning of the first set, but then their game picked up. With the next four games, they took the first set at 6-4. Their opponents played a good game in the next set, and were in a 4-1 lead which the Indo-Croatian team could not break. They finally lost the set at 2-6.
It was tied 2-2 in the tie-break, when Stotsur held her serve and the Australian duo took a 3-2 lead. But Groth failed to finish off the point with overhead smashes, so Mirza and Dodig found a way to win a point. They also got the next point, when Groth missed a return, and from then on it was Mirza and Dodig’s game as the Australian team continued to make errors.
Sania Mirza is the only Indian remaining in the contest after Rohan Bopanna, with his partner Gabriela Dabrowski, bowed out to the Indo-Croatian pair in the quarterfinal. If she wins tomorrow, she will be getting herself a Grand Slam title.