The fairytale run is over. With 14 WTA titles, including three Grand Slams, and world number 1 ranking since they joined forces in 2015, it seemed the much-celebrated women's doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis could never put a foot wrong. But their dry run over the last 5-6 months, during which they lost to players ranked outside top 100, convinced them that it's time to move on.
Sania is most likely to partner Czech Republic's Barbora Strýcová, who, along with compatriot Lucie Safarova, stunned Serena and Venus Williams 6-3 6-4 in the opening round, a couple of nights ago at the Rio Olympics. It was the first loss for the Williams sisters as a doubles pair at the Olympics.
Strýcová is a right-hander with a strong backhand and is currently ranked 21 in the singles and 39 in doubles. The 30-year-old, who prefers grass-court and clay, has one singles and 18 doubles titles to her name on the WTA circuit. An admirer of Steffi Graf, Strýcová loves swimming and skiing.
Sania will pair up with Barbora at the Cincinnati Open mid-August, followed by the US Open later this month, the last Grand Slam of the season.
Martina, on the other hand, is likely to partner Coco Vandeweghe of the US. The 24-year-old is ranked 33 in singles and 25 in doubles.
SanTina came together in March 2015 and won nine titles that included an incredible 41-match winning streak, which ended in February this year:
Indian Wells Masters in March
Miami Open in March/April
Family Circle Cup in April
Wimbledon in June/July
US Open in August/September
Guangzhou International Women's Open in September
Wuhan Open in September/October
China Open in October
WTA Finals (Singapore) in October/November
They came out all guns blazing in 2016, too, winning Brisbane International, Sydney International and Australian Open in January and St. Petersburg Ladies Open in February. The next triumph came only in May at the Rome Open.
In fact, in the four tournaments they played since May, the pair failed to progress beyond the quarterfinal stage, crashing out of Wimbledon and the French Open.
