There will no dancing together in the center court of Wimbledon for Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in 2016, as the defending champions were sent packing in the quarter-finals on Thursday by Yaroslava Shvedova and Timea Babos.
The top seeds barely clicked into gear as they were thrashed 2-6, 4-6 by the fifth seeds Shvedova and Babos.
And the day got worse for fans of the new-found Indo-Swiss love affair in the tennis circuit as defending mixed doubles champions Leander Paes and Hingis were knocked out by Britain’s Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen of Finland who were playing their first match together.
Paes and Hingis had completed the mixed doubles Grand Slam at the French Open last month after they had captured the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2015. But they were undone by Watson and Kontinen in three sets, 3-6 6-3 6-2.
Watson and Kontinen had reached the third round without hitting a ball after Louisa Chirico and Denis Kudla had given them a walkover before Bruno Soares and Elena Vesnina did the same in round two.
It was a miserable day for Hingis as she and Mirza lost their women’s doubles title too.
Coming into the tournament as overwhelming favourites, a lot was expected from the pair dubbed ‘Santina’, after their near flawless run last year. But, just in like French Open this year, they have tasted early defeat.
For Sania Mirza, there will be no trophy at the Wimbledon this year after she lost out in mixed doubles with partner Ivan Dodig.
For India’s star tennis player, it’s now time to focus on Rio 2016