'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Former World No. 1 Sania Mirza returns to Grand Slam action at Wimbledon next week. The six-time Major champion will partner American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the women's doubles event.
The 34-year-old Indian has played only three events in 2021, reaching the semi-finals in Qatar and the round of 16 in Dubai, followed by a first-round loss in Eastbourne earlier this week with Mattek-Sands. The pair have won six WTA titles together in the past.
With her eyes set on the Tokyo Olympics next month, Mirza will be hoping to get some wins and confidence under her belt at the All England Club, a venue where she won the women's doubles event in 2015.
On that note, let's take a look at Mirza-Mattek-Sands' potential route to the women's doubles final at 2021 Wimbledon.
Sania Mirza/Bethanie Mattek-Sands' 1st round opponents - Alexa Guarachi/Desirae Krawczyk
The Indo-American pair have a tough assignment in their first round, as they meet sixth seeds Alexa Guarachi/Desirae Krawczyk. The Chilean-American duo reached the final of the 2020 French Open and have won two WTA titles together this year (Adelaide and Strasbourg).
Sania Mirza/Bethanie Mattek-Sands' likely 2nd round opponents - Russians
If Mirza and Mattek-Sands manage to upset the sixth seeds in the first round, the duo will face either the all-Russian duo of Elena Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova or the Russian-Kazakh duo of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Rybakina.
Mirza and Vesnina are close friends and have played doubles together in the past. They have won five WTA doubles titles as a team and also reached the final of the 2011 French Open.
Sania Mirza/Bethanie Mattek-Sands' likely third-round opponents - American teens
Should Mirza and Mattek-Sands win their first two matches in London, they could run into the young American duo of Coco Gauff and Caty McNally.
The Gauff-McNally tandem have twice reached the quarterfinals at the Grand Slam level and have won three WTA doubles titles, including Parma this year.
Sania Mirza/Bethanie Mattek-Sands' likely quarterfinal opponents - the World No. 1s
Should Mirza and Mattek-Sands win three matches at the All England Club, they could be rewarded with a clash against the top seeds and French Open champions -- Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
This will be Krejcikova's first event since her Roland Garros double earlier this month.
Sania Mirza/Bethanie Mattek-Sands' likely semifinal opponents - the No. 4 seeds
Projected to reach the semifinals from the top half of the draw are the fourth seeds Demi Schuurs and Nicole Melichar.
Schuurs and Melichar have won two big titles -- Doha and Miami -- this year and will be gunning for their first-ever women's doubles title at a Grand Slam.
Sania Mirza/Bethanie Mattek-Sands' likely opponents in the final - the second seeds
If the seeds in the bottom half of the draw hold up, Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos will be competing for the women's doubles title.
Mladenovic and Babos have won multiple Grand Slam doubles titles together, but neither has lifted the crown at Wimbledon.
