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Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna squandered the advantage of winning the first set and lost the mixed doubles semi-final against the American duo of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram 6-2, 2-6, 3-10 in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
The Indian pair will now play for the bronze medal.
The Indians were cruising at one stage but once Sania's serve was broken in the fourth game of the second set the tide turned the Americans' way.
Bopanna's game also crumbled under pressure in the match tie-breaker.
Rajeev and Venus nosed ahead in the second set when Sania failed to draw away her racquet from a Ram return that could have flown out of the court.
That was the second break chance of the game for the Americans.
The break of serve helped the Americans race to a 5-2 lead in no time and forced a match tie-breaker by breaking the Indian pair again in the eighth game.
The Americans put on a clinical show in the match-tie-breaker and took the match right out of the hands of the Indian pair.
Venus could not believe that they had won and continued jumping with joy after the match was over.
The Indians will play Lucie Hradecka-Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who lost 4-6, 6-7, 6(3) to Bethanie Mattek-Sands-Jack Sock of the United States in the other semi-final.