India’s star players Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna reached the Australian Open mixed doubles semifinals after receiving a walkover on Tuesday.
The Indian duo was expected to play the team of Spaniard Daniel Vega Hernandez and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko. Earlier in the day, Ostapenko was beaten in the women’s singles quarterfinal by Elena Rybakina.
This is the first time since the 2021 Wimbledon mixed doubles event that the two Indian aces have paired up at a Grand Slam. They had also teamed up for the 2016 Rio Olympics, in which they reached the semifinals and lost the bronze medal match. They’ll be hoping do to better at Melbourne Park where Mirza will be playing in her last Grand Slam.
The 36-year-old announced that she will be retiring from professional tennis at the Dubai Open next month.
The six-time Grand Slam champion (three each in women’s doubles and mixed doubles) and 2017 French Open mixed doubles champion Bopanna are yet to drop a set in the tournament.
They started off with a 7-5, 6-3 win over all-Australian pair Jaimee Fourlis and Luke Saville. In the second round they beat the team of Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya and Uruguayan Ariel Behar 6-4, 7-6 (9), to reach the quarterfinal.
They will next play third-seeded American-British team of Desirae Krawczyk and Neil Skupski, who won the Wimbledon title in 2021 and 2022.