Last Update: February 21, 2023, 20:48 IST
Sania Mirza ended her illustrious career with a first-round defeat at the WTA Dubai Duty Free Championships, going down in straight sets to American partner Madison Keys on Tuesday.
Sania and Keys went down 4-6 0-6 to strong Russian pair of Vernokia Kudermetova and Lyudmila Samsonova in just over an hour.
Read this also Rafael Nadal backs Lionel Messi for Laureus Sportsman of the Year award
The 25-year-old Veronika is ranked No. 11 in singles and No. 5 in doubles while Lyudmila is world No. 13 in doubles.
Sania, 36, who turned pro in 2003, exits competitive tennis with six Grand Slam titles, including three women’s doubles with Swiss legend Martina Hingis.
She won two of the three mixed doubles titles with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi (2009 Australian Open and 2012 French Open). He won the US Open trophy with Bruno Soares.
The opening set traded breaks at a brisk pace which was locked at 4-4. From there, Kudermetova and Samsonova once again broke Sania and Keys to lead 5-4 and put themselves in a position to serve out the set.
He did so comfortably and dropped a point in the 10th game.
Sania and her partner were broken in the very first game of the second set and thereafter it was one-way traffic.
read all Latest sports news Here
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)