US Open: Sania-Bethanie advance to second round

New York, Aug 31 (IANS):

Sania Mirza of India and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands, seeded 13th, advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles at the US Open here at the Flushing Meadows.

The pair thrashed Italian Alberta Brianti and Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-1 in 59 minutes Thursday. They will next face unseeded Croat-Hungarian duo of Darija Jurak-Katalin Marosi.

In mixed doubles, the Indo-Czech pair of Mahesh Bhupathi-Andrea Hlavackova overcame American duo Samantha Crawford-Mitchell Krueger 6-2, 6-4 to enter the second round. They will next face Nicole Melichar-Brian Battistone of U.S. or Spanish pairing of Nuria Llagostera Vives-David Marrero for a place in the quarters.

Bhupathi, partnering Rohan Bopanna, had crashed out of the men’s doubles competition Wednesday.