Melbourne: India’s Sania Mirza and her Kazakh partner Anna Danilina ended their Australian Open campaign after suffering a 4-6, 6-4, 2-6 loss at the hands of the Ukrainian-Belgian duo of Alison Van Uytvanck and Anhelina Kalinina in the women’s doubles second-round match on Sunday.
Earlier, the Indo-Kazakh pair defeated the Hungarian-American duo of Dalma Galfi and Bernarda Pera in the first round.
The Indian ace, who is playing her last Grand Slam, is alive in the mixed doubles event, where she is partnering with countryman Rohan Bopanna.
Saina and Bopanna on Friday beat wildcard Australian pair Jaimee Fourlis and Luke Saville 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 14 minutes to make it to the second round.
The six-time Grand Slam champion, Sania, had earlier this month announced that she will retire from professional tennis at Dubai Tennis Championships, a WTA 1000 event, which begins on February 19.
Sania has six major titles — three in doubles and three in mixed doubles — with her maiden triumph coming in 2009 when she partnered Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title.
Meanwhile, the men’s doubles pair Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and N Sriram Balaji, who entered the Australian Open as alternates, lost 4-6, 4-6 to Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the second round, ending India’s challenge in men’s doubles.
Balaji and Jeevan, the duo who finished as runners-up at the Maharashtra Open, had stunned fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the opening round on Saturday.
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