Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis have been in incredible form ever since they joined hands in the WTA circuit early last year. Mirza and Hingis, who won the Wimbledon and US Open last year, have looked in fine form in the ongoing Australian Open, and are set to face the pairing of Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova in the semifinals of the competition on Wednesday.
The Indo-Swiss pair has only dropped a single set in the competition, in their last match against Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Coco Vandeweghe. Sania and Hingis defeated the pair to reach the semifinals with the score reading 6-2, 4-6 and 6-1 in the competition.
The 13th seeds, Goerges and Pliskova, who are aware of the tough task ahead of the semifinals, need to play their best game to defeat Sania and Hingis, who are presently dominating the WTA doubles circuit. The top seeds also won the Brisbane and Sydney International since the new year.
Sania and Hingis have their eyes set on the Australian Open title, which they have not won as a pair, and if they play the way they have been doing of late, they could well clinch their maiden Australian Open title.
Sania, with her aggressive groundstrokes, and Hingis, who loves to play with her soft hands at the net, form an incredible pair in the circuit. It is their unbelievable chemistry on the court, which makes them successful. Talking about the semifinals clash, on paper, the top seeds are expected to defeat the 13th seed. However, the Indo-Swiss pair is not going to take their opponents easy.
Goerges and Pliskova looked in great form against their quarterfinals opponents, Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva. The 13th seed won the match in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-4. Goerges and Pliskova are going to be a confident unit when the face Sania and Hingis as they defeated the third seeds, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets in the third round as well.
Overall they have a better record than the Indo-Swiss pair in this year's first grand slam, as the 13th seed have not dropped a single set in the competition which they will be keen to maintain. Sania and Hingis, on the other hand, are also eager to maintain their imperious form in 2016, winning the Australian Open as well.
Where to watch live
Australian Open 2016 semifinal match –Sania Mirza/Martina Hingis vsJulia Goerges/Karolina Pliskova is the second match in the evening session on Day 10 at the Rod Laver Arena. The first match – Gael Monfils vs Milos Raonic -- is scheduled for 7:30 pm local time (2pm am IST, 12 am GMT, 7 pm ET) start.
The live coverage of the Australian Open will be on Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD in India, with the online live streaming option on Sonyliv.
The 2016 Australian Openmatches can be viewed live in the UK and Ireland on BBC, with live streaming on BBCiPlayer.
Eurosport and Eurosport Player will show the Australian Open 2016 live in the rest of Europe. Channel 7 will broadcast the Australian Open live in Australia.
US viewerscan watch Australian Openlive on ESPN with live streaming options on Watch ESPN.
Fox Sports will show the Australia Open matches live in South East Asia as well as South Korea.
