Sania-Bethanie exit Qatar Open doubles in Round 1
The first-round loss means that Sania has been without a win in the women's doubles event this year.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: February 13, 2013 09:13 AM IST
Sania Mirza was knocked out of Qatar Open doubles on Tuesday after going down in the opening round, partnering USA's Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
The eighth-seeded Indo-US pair lost to Lisa Raymond of USA and Samantha Stosur of Australia 4-6 2-6 on the second day of the USD 2,369,000 event in Doha.
This is Sania's second straight loss in 2013 after going down in opening round of the Australian Open last month, partnering Mattek-Sands.
The result also means that Sania has been without a win in the women's doubles event this year.
In the mixed doubles though, she had made the quarters of the Australian Open alongwith American doubles specialist Bob Bryan.
On Tuesday, Sania and Mattek-Sands were guilty of not landing enough first serves in, with just 47 per cent of their first serves were good as compared to the 69 per cent first-serve success achieved by their opponents.
In a match that ended in less than an hour, 57 minutes and 46 seconds to be exact, Sania and her partner double faulted five times and could only convert out of the four break points they got.
Raymond and Stosur were far more superior as they failed to convert just one of the six break points. The duo will now take on Shuai Jhang of China and Janette Husarova of Slovakia in round two.