Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis lost their first competitive match as a women's doubles team as they crashed out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Wednesday.
First-time pairing of Petra Martic and Stephanie Vogt pulled off a straight set stunner 6-3, 6-3, beating the successful pairing of Mirza and Hingis.
Martic and Vogt were playing together for the first time and had just one Women's Tennis Association (WTA) doubles title between them.
Before Wednesday's defeat, Sania and Martina had won back-to-back-to-back titles at the Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston, a run which helped the Indian become the World's No. 1 women's doubles player.
Martina was not at her physical peak during the match and was treated for a back injury.
The Indo-Swiss pair are currently seeded as the world No.1 doubles team on the leaderboard for the season-ending WTA championships, the BNP Paribas WTA Finals, to be held in October-November in Singapore, this year.
In other matches, No. 2 seeds Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik beat the German pair of Antonia Lottner and Carina Witthoeft, 6-3, 6-3, while No.3 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova beat Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith, 6-2, 6-1.
If Mattek-Sands and Safarova go on to capture the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title this week, they will pass Sania and Martina to clinch the No.1 spot on the leaderboard.
If Mattek-Sands and Safarova go on to capture the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title this week, they will pass Sania and Martina to clinch the No.1 spot on the leaderboard.