Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek crashed out of the US $ 600,000 East
West Bank Classic doubles event following a straight sets quarter-final loss to second seeds Rennae Stubbs and Kveta Peschke in Los Angeles.
Sania and Mattek went down 6-7(2), 4-6 to the Australian-Czech duo in a match that lasted close to one-and-a-half hour.
The opening set was a tightly contested affair with both pairs breaking each other thrice, but Stubbs and Peschke landed more winners besides having a better first serve percentage, to go 1-0 up after clinching the tie-breaker.
Sania and Mattek failed to recover from the setback and wasted five break-points in the second set as their opponents wrapped the match in their favour.
Stubbs and Peschke will now face the fourth seeded combination of Russian Maria Kirilenko and Gisela Dulko of Argentina in the last four.
Sania has already bowed out of the singles, losing in the pre-quarter-finals and yesterday's doubles defeat ended her campaign at the hard court event.
More from rediff