Australian Open 2017: Leander Paes/Andre Sa crash out in first round; Indian duo of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan also eliminated

Leander Paes in action during a match last year

Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and Andre Sa lost their first round tie at the Australian Open to Max Mirnyi and Treat Huey by a 6-4, 6-7(3), 4-6 respectively in the three-set affair. Mirnyi had previously paired up with two of India’s biggest tennis stars, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna.

In the first set, the Indo-Brazilian pair gained an important break in the fifth game to take a lead of 3-2 and eventually won the set 6-4. Either of the two failed to make a break in the second set and it went to a tie-break to settle the match.

Paes and Sa lost serve three times, lost the tie-break and the set to take the match to the deciding set.

Tenth seed Mirnyi/Treat were successful in breaking their opponents’ serve in the seventh game of the third set, and played consistently to hold on to the lead and win the third set 6-4, and progress to the next round in Australia.   

The journey for Paes does not end here, though, as he will feature in the mixed doubles event with Martina Hingis. On Friday, they are scheduled to face off against the Australian pair of Destanee Aiava and Marc Polmans.

Meanwhile, the Indian pair of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan also crashed out of the Slam following defeat to Jonathan Eysseric/Fabric Martin by straight sets, which included two tie-breakers. The scoreboard at the end of the second set was 6-7(9-11), 6-7(4-7).

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, on the other hand, were the shining stars for India, winning their matches in the women’s doubles and men’s doubles events, respectively.

Also read: Somdev Devvarman blasts AITA with his open letter

The AITA has been put under the radar in the past few days, especially after a letter from Somdev Devvarman to express his grief on the dropping youngster Sumit Nagal for the Davis Cup tie against New Zealand.

The double blows’ in the Australian Open is yet another shock to the Indian tennis fraternity and is not a positive sign for the sport in India.