Dubai Tennis: Sania Mirza brings curtains down on career, goes down fighting in her final doubles match

After performing her heart out in the Australian Open where she finished as the runner-up in the mixed doubles along with her childhood doubles partner Rohan Bopanna, all eyes were on Sania Mirza about how she would bring her career to an end.

Although she brought an end to her Grand Slam career at Melbourne Park, she had the chance for a fairy-tale ending since she was set to play doubles in the Abu Dhabi Open and Dubai Tennis Championship.

However, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) wasn’t quite kind to her. After she made a Round of 16 exit in the Abu Dhabi Open, she failed to perform in the tournament in Dubai.

She partnered singles World No.23 Madison Keys and was up against the Russian pair of Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova. Sania and her partner, Keys, lost the match 4-6, 0-6.

The first set



of the match on Court 3 went right down the wire, but the Russian pair closed out the set by holding their nerves. Sania and Keys earned a break of serve, but conceded two and went down.

The second set was a completely one-sided affair. Kudermetova and Samsonova didn’t give Sania and Keys any sort of breathing space.

The Russian pair earned three breaks of serve to leave their opponents in the shambles. The 36-year-old star from Hyderabad finished her career with 43 doubles titles and one singles title.

When she burst on to the scene back in 2005, she was deemed as one of the brightest prospects in Indian tennis. In August 2007, Sania achieved her career-highest singles ranking of 27.

She also advanced to the fourth Round of the US Open back in 2005 and it remains her best performance in Grand Slam doubles.