Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza are out of the men’s and women’s doubles at the Australian Open
Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza were eliminated from the men’s and women’s doubles events of the Australian Open on Wednesday after losing their first-round matches.
Bopanna and his French partner, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, lost in three sets to the wild card pair of Christopher Rungkat and Treat Huey. The game began confidently but lost momentum midway to lose 6-3 6-7(2) 2-6 in one hour and 48 minutes. Mirza and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok, on the other hand, got beaten 4-6, 6-7(5) by the Slovenian team of Tamar Zidansek and Kaja Juvan in one hour, 37 minutes.
As Chichenok’s racquet continued to make unforced errors throughout the match, she was off-color today. However, the two Indians will still participate in the first Grand Slam of the season as they will compete in the mixed doubles. Bopanna and Mirza have teamed up with Croatian Darija Jurak Schreiber and American Rajeev Ram. In the singles qualifying round, none of the four Indians made it to the main draw.
Philippine left-hander Huey’s outstanding service games and net play resulted in the outcome of the men’s doubles match, while Indonesian Rungkat, who initially seemed to be the weak link in the team, gradually improved. As the match wore on, Rundkat’s hitting from the baseline improved remarkably.
Bopanna hit a crushing forehand winner past Huey at 15-30 on the serve of Rungkat, and the Indo-French pair had their first break chance in the fourth game. Bopanna served out the set at love, at ease, with his booming serves, following that break in the ninth game.
With a flurry of winners, Rundkat and Huey earned two breakpoints on Bopanna’s serve in the opening game of the second set, but failed to convert either. During the second set, which was determined by a tie-breaker, both pairs held serve.
Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin earned two break chances in the 11th game, but their opponents saved both. Putting the wild cards 15-40 were a Roger-Vasselin win and a Rungkat forehand error. Six straight points were scored by the wild card pair in the tiebreaker to tie the match.
The momentum changed dramatically after that, with Rungkat and Huey dominating the match by breaking their opponents with ease. Their double break gave them a 5-1 lead. Indonesia won the match by serving it out.
