Australian open 2017: With an unexpected start, the tournament is looking very much unpredictable and saw many surprising losses and victories in two rounds game so far. One of them is the oust of Novak Djokovic, the defending champion. Now, the prestigious tournament was also a test for Indian doubles players like Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza. It was interesting to see both of them with their new partners after their breakup with Martina Hingis.
After successful and easy victories in the first round, the second round didn’t go as per expectation for Rohan Bopanna, however, Sania Mirza with her partner registered easy victory again. Friday was a mixed day for Indian tennis players at the Australian Open. Sania Mirza won her women’s doubles second round match convincingly with Czech Barbora Strycova.
On the other side, the Indo-Uruguayan pair of Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas lost their men’s doubles second round match at Melbourne Park on Friday. Sania and Barbora had an easy 6-1, 6-4 win over the Australian-Chinese pairing of Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang as the fourth seeds progressed to Round 3 following their victory in an hour and 21 minutes at Court No.2.
Scorecard of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna’s respective games in second round of Australian Open 2017:
Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova vs Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang
Barbora Strycova and Sania Mirza
Sania and Barbora had an easy 6-1, 6-4 win over the Australian-Chinese pairing of Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang as the fourth seeds progressed to Round 3 following their victory in an hour and 21 minutes at Court No.2. The Indo-Czech duo rolled their opponents over in the first set by breaking them thrice out of five attempts and won a total of 33 points out of the 54 played. In the second set, Samantha and Shuai fought better but fell short of taking the match into the third set.
Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas vs Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley
Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cueva
On Court 3, Australian combination of Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley ousted Bopanna and Cuevas 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 in an hour and 55 minutes. The 15th seeded pair took off well by winning the first set but the Australians fought back well to level the match by clinching the second set tie-break.
It all boiled down to the third set where Bolt and Mousley earned as many as six breakpoint chances, converting one while Bopanna and Cuevas failed to earn even a single break point opportunity.
