Former doubles worlds number 1 Sania Mirza on Tuesday brought the curtains down of her glorious career at the WTA Dubai Duty Free Championship.
Sania along with American partner Madison Keys suffered a straight-set defeat at the hands of Vernokia Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova. Sania and Keys lost 4-6, 0-6 to the formidable Russian pair in exactly one hour.
The breaks were traded quickly in the first set, which was tied at 4-4. Kudermetova and Samsonova then broke the duo of Sania and Keys once again for a 5-4 lead, putting themselves in position to serve out the set.
Last month she bid goodbye to the Grand Slam and ended with a runner-up finish at the Australian Open along with compatriot Rohan Bopanna.
With a career spanning over two decades, Sania named her six Grand Slam titles, including three women’s doubles with Swiss legend Martina Hingis.
She won two of her three mixed doubles matches alongside fellow countryman Mahesh Bhupathi (2009 Australian Open and 2012 French Open). She shared the US Open title with Bruno Soares.
In her career, Mirza achieved a feat of becoming the first Indian woman to reach the second week of a singles. She also got a ranking of World No. 27 on the singles tour.
Up next is mentorship for the 36 year old Indian tennis player. She has been roped in as the team mentor of Royal Challengers Bangalore for the first season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), which will kick start on March 4.