New York: The fourth-seeded Indo-Chinese pair of Sania Mirza and Shuai Peng was sent packing by Swiss ace Martina Hingis and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei in the women’s doubles semifinals of the US Open here Friday. The Swiss-Chinese Taipei combo won the match 6-4, 6-4.
However, in both the sets Sania and Peng had their chances. In the first set, Sania and Peng started brightly and took a 3-0 lead. However, Hingis and Chan levelled the score at three-all with a double break. Then they broke Sania again to win the first set 6-4. The second set also went along similar lines with Mirza-Peng leading 3-1 before blowing it all away.
Meanwhile Lucie Safarova blasted Czech teammates and friends Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova for poor sportsmanship in the other doubles semifinal and said that their act was ‘sad’ for tennis.
Safarova, who was playing alongside another Czech Barbora Strycova, was furious over an incident in their 2-6, 5-7 defeat.
Siniakova hit a ball which deflected off the head of her teammate. Under the rules, the point should have gone to Safarova and Strycova but Hradecka did not acknowledge the ball had hit her.
“Win or lose you should always play fair! Wouldn’t expect that from a friend. Makes me really sad!..#sportsmanship# fairplay# sad,” tweeted Safarova after the match.
agence france-presse