Sania Mirza, Martina Hingis call it quits, disintegrate

The celebrated duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have called off their partnership after a year of debacles. The World No. 1 Women’s Doubles have been vocal about their disintegration days leading upto the Olympics.

What’s interesting to observe is the professionalism both players have shown with regard to the sport they play as both have decided on their doubles partner for the US Open 2016. The pair enter the Open with different partners as Mirza pairs with her former partner, Barbora Strycova. The Swiss pairs with Coco Vandeweghe of Czech Republic. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis, apart from winning the Australian Open this year, went on to win 2 ATP World titles together before the downfall gained momentum.

The duo participated in the Rio Olympics separately as Sania partnered with her fellow Indian, Prarthana Thombare before crashing out in the first round to China’s Zhang Shuai and Shuai Peng. Hingis, who progressed onto her second round will play the startling duo of Coco Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, as Mattek-Sands is Sania Mirza’s former partner and Vandeweghe is Hingis’ to-be new partner.

An official for the team was quoted saying, “Yes, the partnership is over. They have not got the desired results in last five months. You see, they have lost to players outside top-100 and it reflects that something is wrong.” The duo last won their title in mid-may at Rome Masters, which is an utter contrast to their previous record year. 2015 was a year that fetched a 41-win streak for the Indo-Swiss pair, extending till Doha Open. This included 9 ATP titles and 3 Grand slams. But the downhill started post-Doha as the two lost to six unseeded pairs at multiple events, including unranked players like Asia Muhammad and Christina McHalein Montreal, which was coincidentally their last event together.

Mirza and Hingis have already qualified for the year-end’s prestigious tournament- WTA Finals- as Doubles, which is now unlikely.