Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau lose mixed doubles final at Australian Open

Daniel Nestor of Canada kisses Sania Mirza of India, after their mixed doubles final match during day 14 of the 2014 Australian Open

There was to be no Australian Open joy for India’s Sania Mirza on India’s Republic Day and Australia Day Down Under, as she and her partner Horia Tecau of Romania, lost the mixed doubles final 3-6, 2-6 to Canada’s Daniel Nestor and France’s Kristina Mladenovic.

Sania was looking for her second mixed doubles crown at the Australian Open after having won in 2009 with Mahesh Bhupathi.

It was a second title in the last 3 Slams for Nestor and Mladenovic who also took home the trophy at Wimbledon last year. Then too, they had beaten the Indo-Romanian pair en route, but in the quarter-finals.

After mounting a spirited charge to the final, Mirza and Tecau found the partnership of Nestor and Mladenovic a hurdle too big to cross with Nestor, a winner of 83 doubles titles in all including 8 Grand Slam men’s doubles titles and 3 mixed doubles titles, putting in a very seasoned performance. Mladenovic too was in prime form as the Canadian-French combination romped to an easy win.