New Delhi: In an unexpected development, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have decided to end their astonishing partnership that took the tennis world by storm last year when they won nine titles including the year-end WTA championship.
Sania and the Swiss great began their partnership last year in March with a bang, winning three titles on the trot — at Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston.
Sania became world number one in partnership with Martina when they won the Charleston event. Sania also enjoyed her first ever women’s doubles Grand Slam title by winning the Wimbledon in company of Martina. Later, the pair also won the 2015 US Open.
“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. But is a regular phenomena, you can change partner if results are not coming,” a source close to Sania told PTI.
Sania will now play with world number 21 Barbora Strycova from the Czech Republic while Martina has teamed up with Coco Vandeweghe of the United States of America.
Sania’s partnership with Barbora will at the Cincinnati event while she is set to play with American Bethanie-Mattek Sands at New Haven before again uniting with the Czech at the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season.
“It was question of availability and also Barbora Strycova has a good backhand, so they also compliment game wise,” the source added when asked about the choice.
Sania and Martina had carried their red hot form into the 2016 season by winning four events on the trot, including the Australia Open, their third Grand Slam together.
They stitched together an incredible 41 match winning streak which ended this year in February at Doha where they lost to Russians Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina.
However, for a world number one pair, the results in the last five months have not been encouraging. After winning four titles at the start of the season, they have managed to win only one title (Rome) after that in three finals.
They also failed to defend their Wimbledon crown. Last month’s Montreal event happened to be their last tournament together, where they lost in the quarterfinals.
In all they won 14 titles, including three Majors, together in 16-month long partnership. The Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati will begin on August 15.
Both Sania and Martina are playing in the Rio Olympics.