Indian ace Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna on Tuesday soared into the final of the Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles event on Wednesday, beating third seed American-British pair Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski in the semifinals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sania and Bopanna registered a 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-6 upset win over two-time Wimbledon champion pair Desirae-Skupski.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Indian duo will face the winner of the match between Australia's Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans and the Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Playing at the Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park, the two teams indulged in a neck-to-neck fight in the first set and neither pair dropped a single serve. Mirza and Bopanna finally emerged with the lead after edging out their opponents 7-5 in the tie-breaker.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In the second set, the Indian pair took an early advantage as they combined well to break Skupski's serve in the very first game. The British-American pair levelled up after breaking Bopanna and Sania's serves in the sixth and eighth games, respectively.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Indians used their experience well to ensure three more break points of their own.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With Sania serving for the match in the 12th game, the Indian pair had a match point opportunity but squandered it as Krawczyk and Skupski fought back to force a tiebreak for the second set.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Then, Krawczyk and Skupski came out on top to take the match into a super tie-breaker. The Indian pair recovered brilliantly from the disappointing end of the second set to win the super tie-breaker 10-6.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
This will be the first time in five years that a Grand Slam final will have Indian representation. Bopanna had made the Australian Open mixed doubles final with Hungary's Timea Babos in 2018 but ended up on the losing side.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n