Australian Open: Sania Mirza-Cara Black go down in quarters
Sania Mirza and Cara Black put up a brave fight and were in with a chance to win the match but in the end, lost 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 in an hour and 58 minutes.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: January 21, 2014 02:58 PM IST
Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black lost to top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy in the quarterfinals of the women's doubles tennis at the Australian Open here on Tuesday.
The sixth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair put up a brave fight and were in with a chance to win the match but in the end, lost 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 in an hour and 58 minutes.
After going down tamely in the first set, Sania-Black came back strongly to win the second. They were leading 4-2 in the final set and looked favourites to qualify for the semis. The Italian team however, showed why they are the top-ranked team in the tournament by winning four consecutive games to wrap up the match.
The sixth seeds would be disappointed with their performance especially after coming so close. They hit 39 winners to their opponents' 44 but it was the number of unforced errors (24) they made that would be the worrying bit.
Another cause for concern would be their failure to convert break-point opportunities. Sania-Black won 15 break-point chances, same as Errani and Vinci, but managed to convert just six.
The top seeds will now take on the winners of the match between fourth seeds Kveta Peschke-Katarina Srebotnik and the unseeded team of Jarmila Gajdosova and Ajla Tomljanovic.