Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Croatian partner Mate Pavic on Monday advanced to the Wimbledon mixed doubles semifinals with a hard-fought win over fourth seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and John Peers.
The sixth-seeded pair defeated the fourth-seeded Canadian-Australian duo of Gabriela Dabrowski and John Peers 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinal match that lasted one hour 41 minutes.
Sania and Pavic broke Dabrowski's serve in the decisive final game of the 3rd set, thereby avoiding a 10-point tie-breaker.
The Indo-Croatian pair had a 73 percent win percentage on first serves and 65 percent on second serves. Pavic, especially, was brilliant with his serves, hitting them with a lot of power.
Notably, Sania and Pavic had advanced to the quarter-finals after their second-round opponents Ivan Dodig and Latisha Chan gave a walkover.
The Indo-Croatian pair will take on the winners of the quarterfinal between Robert Farah and Jelena Ostapenko, the seventh seeds, and the second seeds Neil Skupsi and Desirae Krawczyk.
This is Mirza's best-mixed doubles performance at the All England Club. She had previously reached the quarterfinals in 2011, 2013, and 2015.
A Wimbledon title is the only mixed doubles Grand Slam missing from her trophy cabinet.
Mirza, a six-time Grand Slam winner, has already announced her retirement at the end of this season.