US Open: Sania loses, Paes-Bhupathi, Bopanna-Qureshi advance
August 31st, 2011 - 12:05 pm ICT by IANS
New York, Aug 31 (IANS) India’s Sania Mirza lost a thrilling women’s singles first round match while compatriots Leander Peas and Mahesh Bhupathi along with Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistan partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi entered the second round of the men’s doubles in the US Open Tennis Championships.
Playing in a packed court 17, Sania and her former doubles partner Shahar Peer engaged themselves in a fierce baseline exchange before the 23rd-seeded Israeli prevailed in the latter stages of the match to win 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 after more than a two-hour see-saw battle Tuesday. It was Peer’s second win over Sania in their six meetings.
The Israeli was quick to take a 3-1 lead in the first set but Sania, with her blistering returns of serve, broke back to enforce a tie-breaker.
The 64th-ranked Indian again trailed in the tie-breaker but soon levelled the scores at 5-5 with a down-the-line-forehand shot. Two points later, a forehand error from Peer gave Sania the opening set.
The Indian, however, slumped to errors and her first-serve percentage, too, dropped drastically. She hit five double faults and 19 unforced errors in the second set. A missed forehand passing shot gave Peer a 4-2 lead and even though Sania did well to fend off two set points at 5-2 and 5-3, she could not stop Peer from making it a set all.
The Indian then fizzled out in the decider and Peer sprinted to a 4-0 lead before closing the set and the match.
In the men’s doubles, fourth-seeded Paes and Bhupathi saw off a stiff fight from Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Albert Ramos of Spain to prevail 7-6(8), 6-4 in the first round. They now await the winner of the match between Florian Mayer of Germany and Rogier Wassen of the Netherlands and Frenchmen Marc Gicquel and Gael Monfils.
The fifth-seeded and last year’s finalists Bopanna and Qureshi, too, survived a few anxious moments before pulling off a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Americans Robby Ginepri and Rhyne Williams in the opening round.
They now play the winner of the match between Americans Travis Parrott and Bobby Reynolds and James Cerretani of the US and Philipp Marx of Germany.
- US Open: Paes, Sania advance to quarterfinals - Sep 03, 2012
- Bhupathi-Bopanna knocked out of Australian Open (Lead) - Jan 22, 2012
- French Open: Bhupathi, Sania advance to mixed double quarters - Jun 04, 2012
- Bopanna, Qureshi in round of 8 - Jan 05, 2011
- Bhupathi-Bopanna shocked in French Open first round - May 31, 2012
- Rogers Cup: Sania, Paes, Bhupathi and Bopanna move up - Aug 10, 2012
- Olympic tennis: Paes-Vardhan go out with heads held high (Lead) - Aug 02, 2012
- Sania-Bhupathi claim maiden French Open crown (Lead) - Jun 08, 2012
- US Open: Paes-Stepanek win, Bhupathi-Bopanna knocked out - Aug 30, 2012
- Paes-Stepanek, Bhupathi-Bopanna knocked out of Wimbledon - Jul 04, 2012
- Sania and Paes move up, Bhupathi-Bopanna lose (Lead) - Aug 11, 2012
- French Open: Paes-Vesnina beat top seeds to enter semis - Jun 06, 2012
- Bopanna-Qureshi crash out of US Open men's doubles semis - Sep 10, 2011
- US Open: Leander enters mixed doubles quarters - Sep 03, 2011
- Bhupathi, Bopanna in semi-finals of Chennai Open - Jan 06, 2012
Tags: anxious moments, compatriots, decider, double faults, florian mayer, frenchmen, gael monfils, latter stages, mahesh bhupathi, marc gicquel, open tennis championships, robby ginepri, rogier wassen, rohan bopanna, sania mirza, shahar peer, tie breaker, unforced errors, us open tennis, us open tennis championships