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It was an emotional outing for Sania Mirza on Tuesday (January 25) as she took the court at the Australian Open (AO) for one final time. She along with Rajeev Ram of the USA were knocked out in straight sets 7-6, 6-4 by Australian wildcard pair Jason Kubler and Jaimee Fourlis in the mixed doubles quarter-finals. The exit brought to an end an illustrious chapter of the Australian Open in Sania's career, as she had earlier announced that the 2022 WTA tour will be her last.
After a mix start to the match it was the Australian pair who took an early lead of 2-0, but Sania and Ram fought back to win three games in a row. However, the eighth game of the first set proved decisive as Kubler and Fourlis broke Sania to take a 4-3 lead, which was maintained till the end of the set as the Australian pair won the first set 6-4. Kubler and Fourlis won two out of two break points in the first set, whereas Sania and Ram won one break point from eight.
The second set started on a positive note for the Indo-US pair as they raced away with an early 4-1 lead, things looked great until that point. But a series of unforced errors saw Sania and Ram win only two games from the next seven, as they were steering down the barrel at 6-6.
Tiebreaker brings down curtains on Sania's Australian Open career
It was a thrilling end to the tiebreaker as the score dwelled at only a one-point lead before Kubler and Fourlis took a 5-3 lead in the tie break. A backhand winner at 6-5 saw Sania and Ram's defence stumble as the pair exited to the wildcard entrants. This proved to be the final straw for Sania as she bowed out of the Australian Open for one last time.
Sania was earlier knocked out of the women's doubles in the first round, after which she announced her decision to call time on her Tennis career after the 2022 WTA tour. In a career spanning 19 years, she won six doubles titles at major tournaments. Her best Australian Open result came in 2009 when she won the mixed doubles titles with Mahesh Bhupathi and in 2016 when she won the Women's doubles title with Martina Hingis. Her best finish in the singles competition came in 2008 when she reached the third round, losing to Venus Williams.
"There's a bunch reasons for it. It's not as simple as 'okay I'm not going to play'. I do feel my recovery is taking longer, I do feel, considering my son is three years old, I'm putting him at risk by travelling so much with him, that's something I have to take into account," Sania quoted after her first round exit in women’s doubles.
"My body is wearing down. My knee was really hurting today and I'm not saying that's the reason we lost but I do think that it is taking time to recover as I'm getting older," she added when she announced her retirement.
