Sania Mirza won a total of six Grand Slam titles in her career, three of which she won with Martina Hingis in women’s doubles.
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Sania Mirza has said goodbye to her tennis career. Sania and her American partner Madison Keys suffered a first round defeat in the women’s doubles section of the Dubai Tennis Championships.The pair was defeated by Russians Veronika Kudermetova and Lyudmila Samsonova in the first round in straight sets 6-4, 6- Defeated by 4. Even before this tournament, Sania had told that this would be her last tournament. Sania has achieved a lot in her career. She reached number-1 in the women’s doubles ranking and at one time it was such that victory after victory was coming in Sania’s account.
Sania was creating history on the court, this was the time when Sania teamed up with Martina Hingis of Switzerland. This pair is counted among the most successful pairs of women’s doubles in the Open Era of Tennis. The pair of Sania and Hingis played tennis together for 16 months and during this time this pair was number-1. This pair was known as ‘Santina’ at that time.
Created history by winning 41 consecutive matches
The pair started playing together from 2015 and created history by winning 41 consecutive matches in women’s doubles. This pair is second in terms of winning the maximum number of matches in this category. Next to this pair is the pair of Natasha Zvereva of Belarus and Yana Novotna of Czechoslovakia. The pair had won 44 consecutive matches in the women’s doubles in 1990. Sania and Hingis’ winning streak began in September 2015 and was halted by Daria Kasatkina and Russian Elena Vesnina in February 2016 in Doha. Together they won three Grand Slam titles. The pair had won the Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2015 and won the Australian Open title in 2016. Together, the pair won a total of 14 titles.
2015 was the golden year
2015 was the year which gave a lot to both these players. Sania and Hingis were trying to give a new path to their respective tennis careers. Hingis had recovered from her injuries and the two-year ban imposed by the WTA on her for doping was also over. This player came back from retirement for the second time in 2013. Everyone knows the achievements of Hingis in singles. But this year he did a great job in doubles. At the same time, Sania had become India’s most successful female tennis player. He had three Grand Slams to his name. All three came in doubles.
In 2015, he got the support of Hingis, who further improved his game. The two covered each other’s weaknesses and formed a pair that was not easy to beat. Hingis’ brilliant netplay and Sania’s sharp returns as well as baseline stroke play made this pair lethal. 2015 was the best year of Sania’s career as her win-loss record in doubles this year was 65-12. Together, this pair secured the number-1 position in the rankings this year. However, the pair broke up in 2016 and again Sania did not see the kind of success she had seen this year.
Why did the couple break up?
In 2016, there was a rift in the pair and in August, the pair decided to separate. The reason given was that this pair was not playing well in the last five months. The pair had won four titles at the beginning of the 2016 season. But in the same year this pair could not win their Wimbledon title and this pair did not see the rhythm which was once seen. The pair participated together in Rio Olympics-2016 but after that they separated. It was told in many media reports that there is a difference of opinion between the two regarding the partner of mixed doubles. But whatever the reason, the Santina couple eventually broke up.