Top seeded pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis suffered their second defeat since joining forces, losing 7-6(5), 3-6, 9-11 to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, at the Madrid Masters Open on Thursday.
The defeat resulted in the Indo-Swiss pair surrendering their number one spot to Mattek-Sands and Safarova in the Road to Singapore Leaderboard. When the new team rankings are issued on Monday, Sania and Hingis will be placed second.
There was more disappointment for India as Leander Paes and partner Daniel Nestor lost their second round match 6-7 (4), 3-6 to Feliciano Lopez and Max Mirnyi.
However, Rohan Bopanna kept the Indian challenge alive as he and his partner Florin Mergea reached the quarter-finals following a 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 win over eighth seeds Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Nicolas Mahut.
