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Melbourne: Indian star tennis players – Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna have been knocked out of the Australian Open men’s and women’s doubles events respectively, after losing their first round matches here on Wednesday. Bopanna and her French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin lost in three sets to a wild card pair of Chirstopher Rungkat and Treat Huey. Mirza and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok, meanwhile, lost 4-6 6-7(5) to the Slovenian side of Tamara Zidansek and Kaja Juvan in an hour and 37 minutes.Read also – Australian Open: Naomi Osaka begins title defense in style; Maria Sakkari also advances
The two Indians are however still alive in the first Grand Slam of the season as they will face each other in mixed doubles. Bopanna teamed up with Croatian Darija Jurak Schreiber, while Mirza teamed up with American Rajeev Ram. None of the four Indians, who took part in the singles qualifier, reached the main draw. Read also – Australian Open 2022: Sania Mirza-Nadiia Kichenok will open against Tamara Zidansek-Kaja Juvan
Filipino southpaw Huey’s exceptional service and net play were crucial in the outcome of the men’s doubles match, while Indonesian Rungkat, who initially appeared as the weak link, gradually improved his game. of Rungkat from the baseline improved remarkably as the match progressed. Also Read – Australian Open 2022: When and Where to Watch – Schedule, Times, Live Stream India
The Indo-French pair got the first break chance in game four when Bopanna hit a crushing forehand past Huey at 15-30 on serve from Rungkat, who couldn’t put the ball on the net in focus following. That break positioned Bopanna to serve the set in the ninth game and he did it with ease, at love, with his booming serves.
Rungkat and Huey came out all guns blazing in the opener of the second set, attacking Bopanna’s serve and earned two breakpoints with a flurry of winners but couldn’t convert either. Both pairs held serves throughout the second set, which was decided by a tiebreaker.
In the 11th game, however, Roger-Vasselin and Bopanna got two break chances but their rivals saved both. It was a winner from Roger-Vasselin and a forehand error from Rungkat that put the jokers at 15-40. The wildcard pair picked up six straight points in a 1-2 tiebreaker to tie the game.
The momentum changed drastically after that, with Rungkat and Huey dominating the contest easily beating their rivals. They took a 5-1 lead with a double break. The Indonesian then served the match.
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