Australian Open 2023: Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna reach mixed doubles final

In the mixed-doubles event at the Australian Open 2023, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna reached the final on Wednesday. They outplayed the third-seeded English-American duo of Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk. In a one-hour and 52-minute match, the score was 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 10-6.

In the super tiebreaker, the Indian duo dashed to a dominating lead after the two sides won one set each. Despite Krawczyk’s best efforts, Sania earned three match points with a backhand winner and sealed the win with a drive volley.

Australian Open 2023

As a result of a walkover win in their quarter-final match against Latvian and Spanish pair Jelena Ostapenko and David Vega Hernandez, the Indian pair reached the semi-finals of Australian Open 2023.

The duo had previously defeated Uruguayan Ariel Behar and Japanese Makato Ninomiya 6-4, 7-6 (11-9), advancing them to the quarter-finals of Australian Open 2023.

In the final, they will meet the  Brazilian pair of Rafael Matos and Luisa Stefani, who defeated the Australian pairing of Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans in the other semi-final.

In a post-match interview, Sania said, “It was an amazing match, there were a lot of nerves.” It’s my last Slam, and it’s so special to play with Rohan. He was my first mixed doubles partner when I was 14, and today, I’m 36 and he is 42, and we are still playing, we have a solid relationship.”

Bopanna said that he is happy to share the court with Sania, and reminiscing on their journey together, he termed it an incredible journey.

He further added, “As Sania mentioned, it was a tough team we were playing against.” “It is not easy to keep the momentum going having lost that second set, but we stayed strong and got an early lead, which gave us that momentum.”

Several days before the tournament began, Sania announced that this would be her last Grand Slam and the WTA event in Dubai will be last tournament.

Sania Mirza is India’s most accomplished tennis player, having won every Grand Slam event and competing in four Olympics [2008, 2012, 2016, 2020]. Additionally, she has won four national awards.

Rohan Bopanna is a doubles specialist and a Grand Slam champion. Moreover, he has also consistently performed well on the ATP Tour, winning multiple Masters 1000 events.

The 42-year-old is a two time Olympian [2012, 2016] and won his maiden Grand Slam title in 2017, after winning the mixed doubles title at the French Open.

Previously, the dynamic duo defeated Ramkaumar Ramananathan and Ankita Raina 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in the first round of Wimbledon 2021’s historic all-Indian mixed doubles match. It was the first time in the Open Era that two Indian teams faced each other at a Grand Slam tournament.

Mirza is a two-time Australian Open champion, having won the mixed doubles event alongside Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009, and the women’s doubles event alongside Martina Hingis in 2016. Bopanna, on the other hand, has never won in Melbourne but did reach the mixed doubles final in 2018 alongside Timea Babos

This incredible duo also represented India at the 2016 Rio Olympics.