Paris: Indian tennis player Sania Mirza along with partner Cara Black bowed out of the French Open after losing their women's doubles quarter-final here Tuesday.
The Indo-Zimbabwean fifth seeds went down 2-6, 6-3, 3-6 in two hours to top seeds Su-Wei Hsieh (Chinese Taipei) and Shuai Peng (China) on Court No.1 to end the Indian challenge in the only clay court major.
Sania and Cara did not start well and lost the first set in only 38 minutes. Both pairs failed to hold serve at least once in the match but the top seeds were two notches better, converting three break point opportunities to Sania and Cara's one.
The tables turned in the second set as Sania and Cara came out with the only two aces and only two winners to take points at crucial junctures. The fifth seeds got one more break of serve than their opponents to level the match and push it to the decider.
In the last set, the top seeds were leading 3-2 when they crucially broke the fifth seeds in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. Serving for the match at 5-3, Su-Wei and Shuai got tough competition as their opponents twice had a chance to break and continue and level the match.
But the top seeds saved both the opportunities and went on to clinch the set and match in 45 minutes.
In the semi-finals, the victors will take on the winners of the match between Czech-Slovenian fourth seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik and unseeded Spaniards Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro.
