Top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza crashed out of the second round of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, on Sunday.
The Swiss-Indian duo, who share the WTA doubles world No. 1 ranking, were stunned 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 by Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva in 1 hour, 32 minutes, just their second defeat of the year.
The American-Russian pairing saved eight of 12 break points and converted five of 13, winning 77 of the 145 points contested.
“We had a game plan and I feel like we executed it really well,” King, who won back-to-back Grand Slam titles with Yaroslava Shvedova in 2010, told the WTA Web site. “We tried to take control of the points and not let them dictate the match play and I think we did that really well. That’s why we won.”
It was the top seeds’ first straight-sets loss since the Rogers Cup in Montreal in July last year and just their second defeat of the season after their quarter-final defeat to Russian duo Daria Kasatkina and Elena Vesnina at the Qatar Open in Doha ended a 41-match winning streak.
Second seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan, who claimed their second title of the year in Doha, also faced a tough-looking match in the second round.
The Taiwanese sisters were due to take on US duo Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Coco Vandeweghe in the second round early this morning Taiwan time.
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