Partnering with reigning Tokyo gold medallist, MatePavic, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has cruised into the semi-finals of theWimbledon mixed doubles for the first time, in her retirement year.

Sania Mirza had reached the quarter-final on threeoccasions (2011, 2013, and 2015) but couldn't go past this stage.

Similarly, Croatian Mate Pavic ended his Mixed Doublesjourney at the quarter-final stage in 2017 and 2021, making this win his firsttime in the last four at the grass court Grand Slam as well. The winning duotrumped John Peers and Gabriela Dabrowski in a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 three-setthriller. Mirza-Pavic comfortably won the first set, but Peers' fast-pacedserves and Dabrowski's omnipresence across the court got them back into thetie. Throughout the match, the Indian's beautiful placement of shots,especially from the baseline, coupled with Pavic's nifty reflexes, gave thepair the edge over Peers-Dabrowski. What made this clash more interesting wasthat Gabriela Dabrowski had been another Indian ace, Rohan Bopanna's patner enroute to his lone Grand Slam win at the 2017 French Open. Not only that,Dabrowski's second Grand Slam win came with her opponent from today, MatePavic, who she paired with at the 2018 Australian Open where on the other sideof the net was Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos in the finals at Rod Laver Arena.Tonight's win was certainly a good birthday gift for Mate Pavic, while reachingthe final and ultimately winning the title would be something on Sania Mirza'smind on her last hurrah at the Wimbledon Championships, where she has been aformer champion in the girls' and women's doubles previously.

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