Paes, Bopanna, Mirza lose at Wimbledon

Rohan Bopanna (L) and Edouard Roger-Vasselin

London, July 4 (IANS) It was a bad day for Indians at Wimbledon as Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza lost their respective matches here on Thursday.

While Paes and Bopanna lost their men’s doubles semi-final matches, Sania Mirza went out of the mixed doubles at the quarter-final stage.

Bopanna and French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin lost a five-set battle to top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the US in the lone grass court major. The 14th seeds lost 7-6(4), 4-6, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6 in two hours and 48 minutes on Court No.1.

This was Bopanna’s best ever outing at Wimbledon, having reached the quarter-final previously in 2010.

Meanwhile on Court No.2, fourth seeded veterans Paes with Czech partner Radek Stepanek also lost a five-setter to the Croat-Brazilian pairing of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo. The 12th seeds won 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 55 minutes.

This was Paes’ best outing in the Wimbledon men’s doubles since 2008, when he reached the semi-finals as well. The experienced Indian won the title way back in 1999 with Mahesh Bhupathi.

Sania Mirza, India’s only female representative, also lost in the mixed battle.

Eighth seeded Canadian-French pair Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic upset second seeds Horia Tecau of Romania and Sania Mirza 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in one hour and 46 minutes. Sania Mirza equalled her best performance here in mixed doubles. Her previous best was the last eight stage in 2011.