Sania vs Bopanna in Australian Open mixed doubles quarters
Melbourne, Jan 24 (IANS) Sania Mirza set up a face-off with Rohan Bopanna in the mixed doubles quarter-finals after she and Ivan Dodig defeated Alexander Peya and Zheng Saisai 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 here on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Rohan Bopanna and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski mounted a great fight back to win against Poland’s Lukasz Kubot and Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan to win 6-4, 5-7, 10-3.
The quarter-final pits the two Indians who represented the country in mixed doubles at the 2016 Olympics. At the Rio Games, Sania-Bopanna lost the bronze medal play-off tie.
The Indo-Croatian pair were outplayed in the opening set as Peya-Zheng began the proceedings aggressively.
But the second seeded Sania-Dodig used all their experience to turn the tide and broke their opponents at a crucial time in the second set to win it 7-5.
In the deciding third set tie-break, Sania-Dodig imposed themselves on the match, hit several winners, including backhand and forehand volleys, to snuff out the opposition in an hour and four minutes.
Second seeded Sania and Croatian Dodig entered the second round after beating Germany’s Laura Siegemund and Croatian Mate Pavic 7-5, 6-4.
The unseeded duo of Bopanna and Dabrowski clinched the first set without much fuss but went down in the second before bouncing back in the third set tie-breaker in a match that lasted one hour and 16 minutes.
Siddhant Banthia and Turk Kaya Gore entered the boys men’s doubles quarter-final, beating Zizou Bergs and Yshai Oliel 6-3 7-6(6).
In the girls singles, Mihika Yadav lost 2-6, 1-6 against Japanese Mai Hontama.