US Open 2016: India's campaign ends as Sania Mirza-Barbora Strycova pair exits from quarter-finals

New York: Seventh seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova were beaten 6-7 (3), 1-6 by top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the women's doubles quarter-finals of the US Open, thereby ending India's campaign in the tennis tournament. Sania Mirza was India's last representative at the US Open after Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski lost in the mixed doubles quarters on Monday. Caroline and Kristina were down 1-4 in the first set as Sania-Barbora got an early break to jump to a 3-1 lead at the Grandstand Court here on Tuesday. Sania, world's top ranked doubles player, then held her serve comfortably to consolidate the lead 4-1. Up 5-2, the Indo-Czech pair received two break points to close out the first set but could not produce the killer blow and quickly paid the prize. Mirza's serve came under severe pressure, facing three break points, and was broken in the first instance itself. Garcia then held her serve easily to be on level terms at 5-5. With the scores locked at 6-6, the set needed a tiebreaker to break the deadlock. The French pair raced to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker and was not under much trouble as they clinched it 7-3. The domination of the top seeds progressed into the second set, getting an early lead by breaking Strycova's serve to go 2-0 up. Sania and Barbora were subjected to extreme pressure as they were unable to find a way to snap the flow of the proceedings, trailing 0-3. A light drizzle held up the match for a while and the players had to retrieve to the locker room to wait. The delay could have broken the momentum of the top seeds but they hardly looked hassled and took it smartly in their stride breaking their opponents again after resumption of play to enjoy a commanding 4-0 lead. From there on it was just a matter of time before the top seeds claimed victory, which they achieved without much ado. Sania-Barbora defeated Nicole Gibbs and Nao Hibino 6-4, 7-5 on the Grandstand court to reach the quarter-finals on Monday.