Good day for Indians in Australian Open
January 20th, 2012 - 8:12 pm ICT by IANS ( Leave a comment )
Melbourne, Jan 20 (IANS) Sixth-seeded Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi kicked off their mixed doubles campaign in the Australian Open with a comfortable win over South African Natalie Grandin and Jean-Julien Rojer of Curacao here Friday.
The Indian duo, winners here in 2009, took just 62 minutes in knocking out their first round opponents 6-4, 6-2. Sania and Bhupathi made just one unforced error and got an impressive 71 percent of their first serves in.
Another Indian, Rohan Bopanna teamed up with American Lisa Raymond to thrash Kazakh-Austrian pair of Galina Voskoboeva and Alexander Peya 6-1, 6-0. Raymond had partnered Indian veteran Leander Paes earlier in her career, and the duo won the 1999 Wimbledon and finished runner-up in the 2001 US Open.
In the men’s doubles, Paes teamed up with Czech Radek Stepanek to cap off a perfect day for the Indians as the pair completed their consecutive straight set victory beating Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-2, 7-6(7-5).
The Indo-Czech duo will now face third seeded French-Serbian pair of Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in the third round.
- Bhupathi-Bopanna knocked out of Australian Open (Lead) - Jan 22, 2012
- Bhupathi-Bopanna toil; Paes-Stepanek cruise into second round - Jan 18, 2012
- Australian Open: Paes-Stepanek, Sania-Bhupathi in semis (Roundup) - Jan 25, 2012
- Wimbledon: Paes-Bhupathi, Somdev and Sania advance in doubles - Jun 25, 2011
- Australian Open: Paes-Bhupathi in men's doubles final - Jan 27, 2011
- US Open: Leander enters mixed doubles quarters - Sep 03, 2011
- Bhupathi-Paes through to Australian Open final - Jan 27, 2011
- Sania-Vesnina knocked out, Paes-Stepanek through to semi-finals - Jan 25, 2012
- Paes-Bhupathi and Bopanna-Qureshi in quarterfinals - Aug 19, 2011
- Australian Open: Sania-Vesnina lose, Paes-Stepanek reach semis (Lead) - Jan 25, 2012
- French Open: Paes-Dlouhy seeded third, Bhupathi-Mirnyi fifth - May 24, 2010
- Paes-Dlouhy advance to second round - May 28, 2010
- Australian Open: Bhupathi-Bopanna, Sania-Vesnina enter doubles pre-quarters - Jan 21, 2012
- Australian Open: Sania-Vesnina surprise Raymond-Huber to enter semis - Jan 24, 2012
- Australian Open: Paes-Bhupathi in final, face Bryan brothers (Lead) - Jan 27, 2011
Tags: alexander peya, australian open, bolelli, fabio fognini, galina voskoboeva, grandin, indian duo, indian pair, jean julien, leander paes, lisa raymond, mahesh bhupathi, michael llodra, mixed doubles, nenad zimonjic, radek stepanek, rohan bopanna, rojer, sania mirza, unforced error