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US Open: Mirza-Strycova knocked out by top seeds Garcia-Mladenovic
Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova were beaten 7-6 (3), 6-1 by top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the women’s doubles quarter-finals of the US Open on Tuesday.
Seventh seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova were beaten 6-7 (3), 1-6 by top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the women’s doubles quarter-finals of the US Open on Tuesday, thereby ending India’s campaign in the year’s last Grand Slam.
Mirza was the last remaining Indian player in New York after Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski lost in the mixed doubles quarters on Monday.
French pair Caroline and Kristina were down 1-4 in the first set as Mirza-Strycova got an early break to jump to a 3-1 lead at the Grandstand Court.
Mirza, the world’s top-ranked doubles player, then held her serve comfortably to consolidate the lead 4-1. Up 5-2, the Indo-Czech pair received two break points to close out the first set but couldn’t produce the killer blow and quickly paid the prize.
Mirza’s serve came under severe threat, facing three break points, and was broken on the first of those. Garcia then held her serve easily to level scores at 5-5.
With the scores locked at 6-6, a tiebreaker was required to break the deadlock. The French pair raced to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker and easily clinched it 7-3.
The domination of the top seeds progressed into the second set, getting an early lead by breaking Strycova’s serve to go 2-0 up. Mirza and Strycova were subjected to extreme pressure as they were unable to find a way to snap the flow of the proceedings, trailing 0-3.
A light drizzle held up the match for a while and the players had to return to the locker room to wait. The delay could have broken the momentum of the top seeds but they hardly looked hassled and took it in their stride, breaking their opponents again after resumption of play for a commanding 4-0 lead.
From there on, it was just a matter of time before the top seeds claimed victory.
Mirza-Strycova had defeated Nicole Gibbs and Nao Hibino 6-4, 7-5 on the Grandstand court to reach the quarter-finals on Monday.
