Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna lost to the all-Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos in the Australian Open

 Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna lost to the all-Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos in the Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles final at Melbourne Park on Friday.

Sania Mirza, playing the last Grand Slam of her career, and Rohan Bopanna were beaten 7(7)-6(2), 6-2 by their younger opponents, Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos, who were playing in their first-ever Grand Slam final.

Sania Mirza, 36, and Rohan Bopanna, who will turn 43 in March, got off to a rocky start after the latter was broken in his first serve. The Indian pair pounced on Luisa Stefani’s serves in the fourth and eighth games but lost the set in the tiebreaker after Rohan Bopanna was unable to hold his serve again in the ninth game. 

In the second set, the Indian pair, who made the Rio 2016 semi-finals together, avoided an early setback but Luisa Stefani, a Tokyo 2020 women’s doubles bronze medallist, combined well with Rafael Matos to break Sania Mirza’s serve in the fourth game.

The break eventually proved to be crucial as the Brazilian pair managed to hold all their serves and broke Sania Mirza’s serve again in the eighth game to win their maiden Grand Slam title.

It was the farewell Grand Slam match for Sania Mirza, who had three mixed doubles and three women’s doubles titles in her career.

Two of Sania Mirza’s Grand Slam wins came at the Australian Open. She won the 2009 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi and the Australian Open women’s doubles title with Martina Hingis in 2016. She is set to retire after the Dubai WTA event next month.

For Rohan Bopanna, the 2017 French Open mixed doubles title with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski remains his only Grand Slam title.

In the semi-finals of the Australian Open 2023, the Indian duo had beaten reigning Wimbledon champions Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski in three sets.

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna had accounted for Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya and Uruguay’s Ariel Behar in straight sets after winning against Australia’s Jaimee Fourlis and Luke Saville in a similar fashion in their opener.