Melbourne, Jan 27: The Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out of the Australian Open after suffering an upset straight sets defeat in the mixed doubles semi-final here today.
The sixth seeded Sania-Bhupathi's campaign ended after they lost 3-6 3-6 to the eighth seeded combo of Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States and Romania's Horia Tecau in just 68 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.
The match was a closely-contested affair, but the American-Romanian duo played better as far as the crucial points were concerned. The Indians could hit only 17 winners as compared to 24 by their opponents.
In the opening set, the Indians managed to convert only one breakpoint of three, besides losing their serve on two occasions to hand their opponents the advantage.
The second set was on serve till 3-3 but the eighth seeds broke Sania and Bhupathi to go up 4-3 and then held their serve to make it 5-3.
The Indians once again failed to keep their serve and the opponents claimed their second consecutive break to book a place in the final.
