Australian Open 2014: Sania Mirza eyes a third Grand Slam, moves into mixed doubles finals

Sania Mirza of India and Horia Tecau of Romania in action during the Australian Open mixed doubles semifinal

Sixth seeds Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau stormed into the finals of the Australian Open mixed doubles competition with a win over the defending champions Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden. The scoreline read 2-6, 6-3, 10-2.

After a shaky start, the Indo-Romanian pair regrouped in the second set to break Jarmila’s serve in the fourth game. From then on, the sixth seeds were at ease and won the set 6-3. The super tie-breaker started after small disruption due to the roof malfunction at the Rod Laver Arena. The defending champions were decimated in the breaker, which they lost 2-10.

The Australians had earlier taken out second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Katarina Sebrotnik in the quarterfinals. Sania is the only remaining Indian in this year’s Australian Open. She, along with Cara Black, lost in the women’s doubles quarterfinals yesterday.

Their opponents in the finals will be either Scott Lipsky and Zheng Jie or the 2013 Wimbledon winners and French Open finalists Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic, to whom they lost in two tight sets at Wimbledon.

This will be Sania’s third Australian Open final after the earlier two with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2008 and 2009. She also won her first Grand Slam title at the 2009 Australian Open with Bhupathi. She reached another final at the French Open in 2012 which she once again won by partnering with Bhupathi.

Horia Tecau is into his second mixed doubles final, the previous one being a title victory with Sania’s former partner Bethanie-Mattek Sands in 2012.