Sania-Hingis pair loses at Madrid Open, surrenders No. 1 spot

Madrid, May 8: Top seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis suffered their second defeat since joining forces as they lost 7-6 (5) 3-6 9-11 to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, at the Madrid Open here.

The fallout of the defeat is that the Indo-Swiss pair has surrendered the number one spot to Mattek-Sands and Safarova in the Road to Singapore Leaderboard.

When the new team rankings are issued on Monday, Sania and Hingis will be placed second. Another Indian bowing out of the tournament was Leander Paes and Daniel Nestor, who lost their second round match 6-7 (4), 3-6 to Feliciano Lopez and Max Mirnyi.

However, the Indian challenge is still alive in the Masters event as Rohan Bopanna and his partner Florin Mergea have already reached the quarterfinals following a 6-4 4-6 10-5 win over eighth seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Nicolas Mahut.

PTI