French Open: Top seeds Sania-Martina fall by the wayside

Hot favourites Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis fell by the wayside at the French Open, beaten by seventh seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova in the quarter-finals of the women's doubles on Wednesday.

The top seeds lost 5-7, 2-6 in 72 minutes.

The Indo-Swiss combine had not dropped a set in their first three matches in the tournament. They won their first three tournaments together - Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston - after joining forces in March this year. The run of good results helped the Indian climb to the top of the doubles rankings in April.

However, the pair has since suffered on European clay. They lost in the in the first round in Stuttgart. They did reach the final of the Italian Open, but lost to Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.

And now comes this defeat, which ended the Indian challenge in the tournament.

Against Safarova, who is also in the singles semi-finals, and Mattek-Sands, who happens to be Sania's former partner and close friend, the pair looked out of sorts.