Italian Open: Sania Mirza, Martina Hingis fall at final hurdle

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her partner Martina Hingis failed to replicate their knockout form on Sunday as the duo suffered a straight set defeat to third seeded pair of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in the women's doubles event of the Italian Open final.

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The Hungarian-French duo took revenge for Miami Open loss by defeating top-seeded duo of Mirza and Hingis 6-4, 6-3 in the summit match that lasted for over an hour in Rome. The Indo-Swiss pair had reclaimed the top spot in the women's doubles rankings on Saturday after reaching their fourth final since joining forces.

Prior to the tournament, Mirza and Hingis had won three back-to-back titles in Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston before hitting their first bump in the road at the start of the clay court season, losing early in both Stuttgart and Madrid.