Second seed Sania Mirza and partner Shuai Zhang gets better of Morderger Sisters to book their place in the QF of the WTA Luxembourg Open. Playing for the first time together Sania and Shuai took only 65 minutes to score a comfortable 6-2 6-3 win over the German Pair.
Sania and Shuai talked about multiple things after the match including Emma Raducanu winning the Singles Title in US Open, Shuai on her second Grand Slam Trophy , how did they decided to play at Luxembourg, and much more.
Q) Can you share your thoughts on the match. What went well according to you?
Sania: It was our first match together so we were just trying to get to know each other and obviously Zhang had a really tough couple of weeks as she has really tough matches and so we were just trying to get to know each other and try to win that match and we both returned pretty well and served well and we played the important points well and I feel like we can build on this and get better and better as we play more matches.
Q) Congratulations Shuai on winning your second GS title. How do you feel knowing you now have a US Open trophy alongside Australian Open in your cabinet?
Shuai: Thank You So Much. I am happy and looking forward to win more starting from today!
Q) With most of your compatriots contesting in National Games, You were the only player male or female from China playing the US Open. Did you feel any pressure with that in your mind?
Shuai: Of Course Yeah! But I don’t wanna talk about this now
Q) You did mentioned playing Chicago and Indian Wells together before. We were not sure about Luxembourg. What make you decide to play here?
Sania: Well Actually Shuai’s Coach asked me in the second week of US Open that If I wanted to play and initially my plan was not to come because Izhaan and my family didn’t have the visa. As both of us have the opportunity to play each other four weeks in a row and of course the more we play together we feel that the better we can play so hopefully by the time Indian Wells comes we can seek a little bit like of practice week to get to know each other and by the time Indian Wells and Chicago comes we can hopefully play good together.
Q) You have played against each other couple of times in doubles including recently in Cleveland. Do either of you remember playing each other in Singles at Guangzhou in 2010?
Sania: Yeah We remember. We played many matches against each other both singles and doubles.
Shuai: So many days on tour I have started feeling so old!
Q) We know Women’s Singles in Grand Slams have been unpredictable for last few years & with 18 y.o qualifier Emma winning the title without dropping a set. Do you think this has been the best advertisement for the sport with young players performing so well? What are your views on this?
Sania: Yeah I think it is really Good, I think that womens tennis has so much depth I have been saying this for many years and from many years anybody can win any Grand Slam and it’s different from the guys where you have top-3 or top 4 who would usually make it to the semis or finals but there was a question I guess lingering you know, Serena is obviously closer to her finish line and I think its really good for the sport to have the young talent like Emma and Leylah to play the finals it show that anything can happen in sport, some Qualifier can win a Grand Slam and No 73 in the world can also play the finals.
