Last Updated: January 26, 2023, 08:23 IST
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna with Izhaan and Tirdha (Screengrab)
Sania Mirza hugged her son Izhaan as Rohan Bopanna picked up his daughter Tridha after booking their place in the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna booked their place in the Australian Open mixed doubles final on Wednesday.
Sania and Bopanna registered a 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-6 upset win over two-time Wimbledon champion pair and third-seed American-British pair Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski.
After the win, Sania and Bopanna were embraced by their children.
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“It was an amazing match, there was 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,” Sania said after the match.
“We are excited to come back here and give ourselves another chance. We were playing the best mixed doubles pair on Tour and had to come up with the best,” she said about the rival players from USA and England.
“I’m not a crier but I’m almost there right now, I feel the love for the last 18 years I have been coming here. It feels like home for me, I have a family here, I eat at home and I have so many Indians supporting me,” said Sania.
“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 and gave us that momentum,” Bopanna said.
“Really happy to be sharing the court with Sania. (It’s an) incredible journey, inspiring everyone back home and today so many fans here.
“One more to go. It would be an absolute dream (Sania winning the title). It can’t get better than that. It will be special and we need it in India, keep inspiring everyone back there is the only way to keep it going.”
The Indian duo will face the winner of the match between the Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos.
Sania is playing her last major as the six-time Grand Slam champion and earlier this month announced that she will retire from professional tennis at Dubai Tennis Championships, a WTA 1000 event, which begins on February 19.
She has six major titles in doubles discipline — three in women’s doubles and as many as in mixed doubles — with her maiden triumph coming in 2009 when she partnered Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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