Brazilian duo Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos yesterday beat India’s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title in Mirza’s last match at a Grand Slam tournament before she retires.
Mirza, who has won six Grand Slam doubles championships — three in mixed, including the 2009 Australian Open — is to retire next month after a tournament in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mirza was emotional at the trophy presentation.
Photo: AFP
“Disclaimer, if I cry it is happy tears,” Mirza said. “I don’t want to take away the moment from Matos-Stefani, who have deserved this.”
The 36-year-old Mirza first appeared at a Grand Slam tournament 18 years ago in Melbourne, when she was beaten by eventual 2005 champion Serena Williams in a third-round match.
“I’ve had the privilege to come back here again and again, and win some tournaments and play some great finals,” Mirza said. “Rod Laver Arena has really been special in my life and I couldn’t think of a better arena to finish my career at a Grand Slam.”
Mirza was 14 years old when she first partnered Bopanna on court.
“It’s truly special for me to play along with Sania,” the 42-year-old Bopanna said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the title, but thank you so much for what you have done for Indian tennis.”
The Brazilian pair took a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker and Mirza and Bopanna fought back to 3-2, but that was to be the final points the Indian duo took. They missed two overheads in a row, including Mirza’s shot into the net on set point.
Stefani and Matos broke Mirza’s serve in the fourth game of the second set to go up 3-1, with the break point coming after a lengthy exchange between the teams.
Stefani and Matos are undefeated as a pairing, having won all seven matches together at the United Cup and at Melbourne Park.
Stefani said an invitation from Matos to play together on her return from a serious knee injury provided inspiration as she completed her rehabilitation last year.
“It was about Wimbledon-time last year and he asked me how I was doing,” she said. “I was doing rehab ... that was a big motivation for me to keep working hard and keep getting closer to coming back. Now here we are, winning our first Grand Slam together in Australia in this beautiful court ... it’s a dream come true.”
EARLY LOSSES: Some sports have already started at the Asian Games in Hangzhou ahead of the opening ceremony on Saturday, including volleyball, with a Taiwan loss South Korea’s bid for a third straight men’s gold medal in soccer at the Asian Games got off to the perfect start with a 9-0 thrashing of Kuwait on Tuesday, but coach Hwang Sun-hong is giving his players little time to enjoy it. With a more testing group match against Thailand today, Hwang is wary of complacency creeping in after his side ran riot against Kuwait in Jinhua, China, southwest of host city Hangzhou. “We’ll pretend this match never happened,” Hwang said after the Kuwait game, Yonhap news agency reported. “We have even more difficult matches coming up later, and we have
‘NOTHING HAS CHANGED’: Jenni Hermoso said that the striking players had been ‘caught by surprise’ by the call-ups, saying it was a strategy to intimidate them Striking Spanish internationals called up to the women’s team on Monday reiterated their desire not to form part of the squad in a new blow for the shaken the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). However, they were told by the government early yesterday that those who did not attend the team’s camps when called up would have to be punished. Spanish National Sports Council president Victor Francos said he would have to apply the country’s sports law. “If they don’t turn up, the government would have to apply the law, which is a pity for me, but the law is the
China hopes to make a splash with the Asian Games, which officially open tomorrow, but nationwide excitement has been muted as the economy sputters and some question the cost of the sporting extravaganza. Delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the quadrennial Games, kicking off in the eastern city of Hangzhou, will be China’s biggest sporting event in more than a decade, with more than 12,000 athletes from 45 nations competing in 40 sports. Organizers this week expressed confidence in holding a “magnificent” Games, thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “important instructions” and great, broad-based efforts. Analysts agree the event would likely
Hong Kong is one of the smaller Asian Games teams by population, but when it comes to fencing the territory is a regional heavyweight with ambitious medal hopes. Edgar Cheung won gold at the Tokyo Games two years ago — Hong Kong’s first Olympic fencing title and first Olympic gold in any sport in 25 years. It turned Cheung into a celebrity overnight and prompted parents across the territory to rush and sign their children up for fencing classes. Cheung’s historic win in the foil competition was a much-needed dose of good news for a territory mired in social unrest and COVID-19 gloom
RSS