- 'We would like to clarify that it was a totally professional decision based purely on our recent results.'
- 'The professional decision has not and will not in any way affect the wonderful personal relationship that we continue to share.'
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis on Thursday claimed that the decision to end their astonishing partnership was due to the failure to achieve the "desired results" and added they would play together one last time in the season-ending WTA Finals in October.
In an unexpected development, Sania and Hingis decided to end their partnership that took the tennis world by storm last year when they won nine titles including the year-end WTA championship.
"After three Grand Slam victories and eleven WTA doubles titles together, we have mutually agreed that we would each be open to playing with other players for the remainder of the season. Perhaps, because of our great past results, we have had very high expectations from our partnership and unfortunately did not get the results we desired recently. We would like to clarify that it was a totally professional decision based purely on our recent results."
Sania and the Swiss great began their partnership last year in March with a bang, winning three titles on the trot -- at Indian Wells, Miami and Charleston.
The pair clarified the split would not affect their "wonderful" personal relationship in any way.
"The professional decision has not and will not in any way affect the wonderful personal relationship that we continue to share. We also look forward to defending our title in the year-end WTA Finals in Singapore in October for which Santina has already qualified. We hope that this puts to rest some of the fabricated stories that have been doing the rounds in some sections of the media."
Sania became World No. 1 in partnership with Martina when they won the Charleston event. Sania also enjoyed her first ever women's doubles Grand Slam title by winning the Wimbledon in company of Martina. Later, the pair also won the 2015 US Open.
After winning four titles at the start of the season, they have managed to win only one (Rome) after that in three finals.
They also failed to defend their Wimbledon crown. Last month's Montreal event happened to be their last tournament together, where they lost in the quarter-finals. In all they won 14 titles.
Sania will now team up with world No 21 Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic while Martina has teamed up with Coco Vandeweghe of the United States.
Sania's partnership with Barbora will commence at the Cincinnati event, while she will play with former partner Bethanie-Mattek Sands of the US at New Haven before again uniting with the Czech at the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season.
