Australian Open 2023 tennis: Sania Mirza-Rohan Bopanna in semi-finals after getting walkover in quarters

Indian tennis players Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the semi-finals of the Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles event at Melbourne Park on Tuesday after the duo was handed a walkover in their quarters clash.

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna were slated to face Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko and Spain’s David Vega Hernandez in their final eight clash but progressed after their opponents decided to withdraw.

In the semis, the all-Indian pair will play the winner of the clash between USA’s Desirae Krawczyk and Britain’s Neal Skupski, the third seeds, and USA’s Taylor Townsend and Britain’s Jamie Murray.

Earlier, Sania and Bopanna had defeated Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya and Uruguay’s Ariel Behar in the second round after accounting for Australia’s Jaimee Fourlis and Luke Saville in their opener.

Sania Mirza’s last semi-final appearance at a Grand Slam was at last year’s Wimbledon. The Indian tennis player and her Croatian mixed doubles partner Mate Pavic lost to eventual champions Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski.

The 2023 Australian Open will be Sania Mirza’s final Grand Slam as the Indian tennis ace is set to retire after the Dubai WTA event next month.

Rohan Bopanna, meanwhile, recently featured at last year’s men’s doubles semis with Dutch partner Matwe Middelkoop.

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, who made the Rio 2016 Olympics semi-finals together, are the last remaining Indian challenge at the Australian Open 2023.

Rohan Bopanna and his men’s doubles partner Matthew Ebden had crashed out of the men’s doubles event on Friday while Sania Mirza’s women’s doubles campaign had ended on Sunday.

India’s N Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who entered the Australian Open as an alternate pair, also made a second round exit from men’s doubls