The possibility of two Indians clashing for the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open ended today as Sania Mirza advanced to the semi-finals while Leander Paes crashed out.
Sania Mirza and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau, seeded sixth, prevailed over the unseeded pair of Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Julia Georges 6-3 6-4 in their quarter-final clash which lasted just 63 minutes.
The Indo-Romanian duo will now clash against Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden, who had stunned second seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Rohan Bopanna.
In another mixed doubles quarter-finals, Leander Paes and his Slovakian partner Daniela Hantuchova lost 3-6 3-6 to Kristina Mladenovic from France and Canada's Daniel Nestor.
Sania and Tecau got three opportunities to break their opponents in the opening set, out of which they converted one, which was enough for the Indo-Romanian pair to pocket the set in 28 minutes.
In the next set, Sania and Tecau broke their opponents in the ninth game to serve out the set in 35 minutes and book a place in the last four stage.
India’s challenge has already ended in the men’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles.