Indian hopes alive: Mirza-Hingis and Bopanna-Mergea through to Round 3 in US Open doubles
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are both through to the round 3 of the US Open in New York after picking up victories in their respective doubles matches. The Indian duos competed in separate segments with their doubles partners and won their second round matches in very different ways, with Mirza and Hingis thrashing Timea Bacsinszky and Chia-Jung Chuang 6-1 6-1 in the second round of the women’s doubles event and Bopanna battling it out for over an hour with the help of Florin Mergea to see off the Polish-Mexican pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago Gonzalez 6-3 7-6 (4/7)
34-year-old Hingis and Mirza entered into the final grand slam of the year as the number 1 seeds after they beat Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elene Vesnina 5-7 7-6 (4) 7-5 to win the 2015 Wimbledon title in July. The doubles pairing have been in fine form ever since and began their quest to win the final grand slam event of the year when they dropped just three games to knock out Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria 6-1 6-2.
They followed it up with a blistering performance in their second round match Bacsinszky and Chuang as they sent down 18 winners and converted five out of a possible seven breakpoints to bring the match to an end within no time. Their opponents in the next round will be 13th seeds Michaella Krajicek from Netherlands and Czech Barbora Strycova, with the match taking place on Day 7.
Bopanna and Mergea struggle to the next round
35-year-old Bangalore native Rohan Bopanna and Romania’s Florin Mergea had a much harder time getting past their opponents. The pair endured a nervy second set that threatened to take the match into the third set, although they finally managed to beat Fyrstenberg and Gonzalez after playing for an hour and 26 minutes.
The sixth seeds began their journey in the US Open with a more comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over the American pairing of Krajicek and Monroe, so it was surprising to see them stuggle in their second round. They will play ninth seeds Canadian Daniel Nestor and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the third round as they look to improve on their performance towards the business-end of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Leander Paes’s run in the men’s doubles came to and end when he and Verdasco failed to beat Johnson and Querrey 5-7 6-4 3-6.