Sania Mirza, Rajeev Ram advance to mixed doubles quarters at Australian Open

Sania Mirza and her American partner Rajeev Ram defeated the pair of Ellen Perez and Matwe Middelkoop in the second round of the mixed doubles event to advance to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. 

It was a commanding show by the unseeded Indo-American duo, who wrapped up the match in straight sets. The contest which was played for an hour and 27 minutes saw Mirza and Ram dispatch Australian Perez and Dutch Middelkoop 7-6 (8/6),6-4.

They will now meet the winners of all Australian tie between Sam Stosur and Matthew Ebden and Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler in the quarterfinals.

Earlier, Mirza and Ram had defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Nikola Cacic in the opening round.

Meanwhile, Mirza has also announced that she will be retiring after the 2022 season. Sharing her thoughts on the decision, the Indian tennis star while speaking on Sony Six show Extra Serve said: “I’m looking forward to being at home not leaving out of a suitcase for a change and yeah just living a normal life.” 

“I hope that I can finish the season and my body is healthy enough to play. The level is not an issue. It’s just about my body and the travel and stuff. So I’m still looking forward to the season. It’s a long year. We’re only in January. Everybody got really emotional yesterday and made me emotional as well; I didn’t mean it, India, I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean to make everyone so sad, but yeah, I am looking forward to actually trying to win some tournaments this year before I stop,” she added. 

When asked about her mixed doubles campaign at the Australian Open, Mirza said it is tough before highlighting the experience factor could work in their favour. 

“In mixed everything is really tough, and with the no-ad and with the super tie break, it’s a bit of a toss-up, but well, we’ve got age on our side. That’s for sure, and we’ve got experience, and I think that we’re just really enjoying being on court together,” said Mirza. 

Meanwhile, the six-time Grand Slam winner crashed out in the first round of the women’s doubles event. However, she remains the only Indian in fray in the year’s first Grand Slam after Rohan Bopanna and his Croatian partner Darija Jurak Schreiber made a first-round exit from the mixed doubles event on Saturday.