Bopanna and Zhang Advance to Mixed Doubles Round Two at Australian Open

Melbourne: Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna and his Chinese partner Shuai Zhang advanced to the second round of the Australian Open mixed doubles with a straight-sets victory. The duo defeated Ivan Dodig and Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-4 on Friday.

The match lasted one hour and 12 minutes, with Bopanna and Zhang set to face the winners of the match between the fourth-seeded pair of American Taylor Townsend and Monaco’s Hugo Nys, and the wild card Australian duo of Maddison Inglis and Jason Kuber.

Strong Start and Composed Finish

Bopanna and Zhang started the match strongly, securing a 3-0 lead in the first set. Although Dodig and Mladenovic managed to break Zhang’s serve to bring the score to 3-2, Bopanna remained composed under pressure and served out the set with a 6-4 win.

In the second set, the Indo-Chinese pair fought off a late challenge, winning 6-4 after saving break points in the 8th game.

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Bopanna’s Previous Success in Mixed Doubles

Bopanna, who had an early exit from the men’s doubles competition, had reached the mixed doubles final at the 2023 Australian Open alongside Sania Mirza.

Other Indian Performances at the Australian Open

Earlier in the tournament, India’s N. Sriram Balaji and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela also advanced to the second round of the men’s doubles.

However, the all-Indian pair of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth were eliminated in the first round, losing 6-2, 6-2 to France’s Gregoire Jacq and Brazil’s Orlando Luz.

Additionally, Anirudh Chandrasekar and his Polish partner Karol Drzewiecki, who entered the tournament as alternates, put up a strong fight but were narrowly defeated by Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Petros Tsitsipas of Greece. The match ended 7(7)-6(1), 2-6, 7(10)-6(6).