Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Peng Shuai bowed out of the China Open tennis tournament on Saturday, losing to Martina Hingis of Switzerland and her Taiwanese partner Chan Yung-jan in three sets.
Sania and China’s Shuai lost 6-2, 1-6, 5-10 to end their campaign in Beijing on Saturday.
On Friday, the third-seeded India-China duo of Sania and Peng defeated fifth seeded Czech pair of Barbara Strýcová and Katerina Siniaková 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 in the quarterfinals.
In the women’s singles draw, World No 2 Simona Halep reached the China Open semifinals for the first time in her career after beating Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 on Friday.
Halep, who lost to Kasatkina in the second round of last month’s Wuhan Open, was never at risk of suffering a second consecutive defeat by the 20-year-old, sending down 19 winners to wrap up the win in just over an hour.
“I think I played much better than Wuhan,” the Romanian said after the match. “I changed tactics and worked pretty well. I just played my game and my style, and I was very consistent and solid as well.”
{{/usCountry}}“I think I played much better than Wuhan,” the Romanian said after the match. “I changed tactics and worked pretty well. I just played my game and my style, and I was very consistent and solid as well.”
{{/usCountry}}The tournament in Beijing has already seen Halep register a first career victory over Russian Maria Sharapova, and the second seed now has an opportunity to level her head-to-head with Jelena Ostapenko, who beat her in this year’s French Open final.
The mercurial Latvian bested Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-4 in an error-strewn quarter-final that saw both players struggling to hold serve.
Twice-Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova fought off fatigue to dominate Czech compatriot Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-4 and reach her third Beijing semi-final.