Sania Mirza-Peng Shuai crash out of China Open

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Chinese partner Peng Shuai were knocked out of the China Open women?s doubles semi-finals on Saturday.

After comfortably winning the first set, the Indo-Chinese duo slumped to a shocking 6-2, 1-6, 5-10 defeat at the hands of Swiss star Martina Hingis and Chan Yung-jan of Chinese Taipei in an exhilarating last-four clash that lasted one hour and 16 minutes.

On Friday, third-seeded pair of Mirza and Shuai rebounded strongly from a set down to beat fifth-seeded Czech duo of Barbara Strycova and Katerina Siniakova 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 in a thrilling last-eight clash.

Last month, Mirza and Shuai had also reached the Wuhan Open semifinal last week, only to go down against top seeds and eventual champions Hingis and Yung-Jan Chan.