• Thursday, March 28, 2024

BADMINTON

Hingis and Mirza call time on doubles partnership

The leading women’s doubles team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have opted to end their partnership after suffering a slump in form following a trophy-laden 16 months together, the players confirmed on Thursday (August 11).

“After three grand slam victories and 11 WTA doubles titles together, we have mutually agreed that we would each be open to playing with other players for the remainder of the season,” the pair said in a statement.

A former singles number one, Swiss Hingis partnered Indian Mirza for the first time at the Indian Wells Open last year and the self-styled “Santina” team went on to claim 14 titles, including wins at Wimbledon, and the US and Australian Opens.

Since their 41-match winning streak was snapped at the Qatar Open in February, the pair claimed the Rome title but failed to advance beyond the quarter-finals in their last four events.

“Perhaps, because of out great past results, we have had very high expectations from our partnership and unfortunately did not get the results we desired recently,” they added.

The pair will, however, reunite to defend their WTA Finals title in Singapore at the end of October.

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