Good day for Indians in Australian Open
January 20th, 2012 - 8:12 pm ICT by IANS
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
- Paes in mixed quarters, beaten in men's doubles (Roundup) - Jun 03, 2012
- Australian Open: Paes-Stepanek, Sania-Bhupathi in semis (Roundup) - Jan 25, 2012
- French Open: Sania-Bhupathi in final, Paes-Vesnina knocked out (Lead) - Jun 07, 2012
- Bhupathi-Bopanna shocked in French Open first round - May 31, 2012
- Sania-Bhupathi sail into French Open final (Lead) - Jun 06, 2012
- Wimbledon: Paes-Bhupathi, Somdev and Sania advance in doubles - Jun 25, 2011
- Paes-Peya advance in French Open - Jun 01, 2012
- French Open: Bhupathi-Bopanna seeded 6th, Paes-Peya 7th - May 28, 2012
- Paes-Peya knocked out of French Open - Jun 02, 2012
- Olympic tennis: Paes-Vardhan, Bhupathi-Bopanna in second round (Third Lead) - Jul 31, 2012
- US Open: Sania-Bethanie in third round - Sep 02, 2012
- Paes-Stepanek crash out of Monaco Masters - Apr 21, 2012
- Paes-Stepanek steamroll into US Open semis - Sep 06, 2012
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