Australian Open: Bhupathi-Bopanna, Sania-Vesnina enter doubles pre-quarters
January 21st, 2012 - 6:41 pm ICT by IANS
Melbourne, Jan 21 (IANS) India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna beat Carsten Ball and Treat Conrad Huey 6-2, 6-2 to move into the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals at the Australian Open tennis tournament here Saturday. Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina advanced to the round of 16 in the women’s doubles.
The fourth seeded duo of Bopanna-Bhupathi recorded an impressive 87 percent of first serves in their second round match against the Australian-Filipino combine of Ball and Huey. The Indians smashed 16 winners as they wrapped up the match in 58 minutes. They next play Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram.
Leander Paes along with Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek reached the pre-quarterfinals Friday.
Sania, partnered by Russia’s Vesnina, won 7-5, 7-5 against Czech-Italian pair of Eva Birnerova and Alberta Brianti 7-5, 7-5 in another second round match.
The sixth-seeds, however, looked far from convincing, making 33 unforced errors in comparison to their opponents’ 30. The match could have gone either way but Birnerova and Brianti converted only three out of the 16 break points and lost the match in an hour and 57 minutes.
The Indo-Russian pair will play 12th seeds Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the pre-quarterfinals.
Vesnina in her second match of the day paired up with Paes to beat compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Belarus’ Max Mirnyi 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the mixed doubles.
The fifth seeds took an hour and 11 minutes to dispose of their opponents.
- Australian Open: Mirza and Vesnina advance to second round - Jan 19, 2012
- Sania-Vesnina knocked out, Paes-Stepanek through to semi-finals - Jan 25, 2012
- Australian Open: Sania-Vesnina lose, Paes-Stepanek reach semis (Lead) - Jan 25, 2012
- Bhupathi-Bopanna knocked out of Australian Open (Lead) - Jan 22, 2012
- US Open: Bopanna-Qureshi storm into quarters; Sania-Vesnia crash out - Sep 05, 2011
- Sania and Paes move up, Bhupathi-Bopanna lose (Lead) - Aug 11, 2012
- US Open: Sania-Bethanie in third round - Sep 02, 2012
- Indian Wells: Paes-Stepanek reach quarters, to meet Lopez-Nadal - Mar 14, 2012
- Australian Open: Sania in quarters of doubles and mixed event - Jan 23, 2012
- Bhupathi-Bopanna shocked in French Open first round - May 31, 2012
- Rogers Cup: Sania, Paes, Bhupathi and Bopanna move up - Aug 10, 2012
- Bhupathi, Bopana crash in Australian Open - Jan 22, 2012
- Sania-Bopanna in Wimbledon quarters - Jun 30, 2011
- Australian Open: Paes-Stepanek, Sania-Bhupathi in semis (Roundup) - Jan 25, 2012
- French Open: Bhupathi, Sania advance to mixed double quarters - Jun 04, 2012
Tags: alberta brianti, australian open tennis, australian open tennis tournament, bethanie mattek, break points, carsten ball, elena vesnina, eva birnerova, jarmila gajdosova, leander paes, mahesh bhupathi, match of the day, max mirnyi, open tennis tournament, radek stepanek, rajeev ram, rohan bopanna, russian pair, sania mirza, scott lipsky