Sania Mirza will have to wait for her seventh Grand Slam trophy as the Indian and her Croatian partner Ivan Dodig lost the Australian Open mixed doubles final 2-6 4-6 to underdogs Abigail Spears and Juan Sebastian Cabal, here on Sunday.

The second-seeded Indo-Croatian pair paid the price for the free-flowing unforced errors from the racquet of Dodig, who struggled with his serve and ground strokes.

It is the second runners-up finish for Sania and Dodig together after losing the final of the 2016 French Open to Leander Paes and Martina Hingis.

Not his day

After losing the first two points, Dodig served a double fault at 30-30 and then sent a forehand long to concede a break in the very first game of the match.

Cabal and Spears though were in tremendous touch from the word go. Both were terrific from the back and at the net to comfortably pocket the first set.

Despite racing to a 3-0 lead in the second set, the Indo-Croat pair let their advantage slip and were locked in battle at 4-4. Dodig was never in his elements in the match and he served two double faults, the second one coming on a breakpoint, to allow Cabal to serve out the championship. PTI

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Tennis / PTI / Melbourne, Australia – January 30th, 2017