Mirza advances, Bopanna bows out of Australian Open

Melbourne [Australia], Jan.20 (ANI): Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her partner Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic sailed into the third round of the season-opening Australian Open after registering straight-sets victory in their women's doubles event here at the Melbourne Park on Friday. The fourth-seed Indo-Czech pair eased past the Australian-Chinese pair of Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhang 6-1, 6-4 in a one-sided thrilling clash that lasted one hour and 21 minutes. Sania and Strycova will next play against Japanese pair of Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato for a place in the quarter-finals. Mirza is looking to clinch her second consecutive Australian Open women's doubles title this year. She lifted the crown last year with Switzerland's Martina Hingis. Meanwhile, Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas suffered a major blow as they crashed out of the first major of the season after going down at the hands of Australian pair of Bradley Mousley and Alex Bolt. Bopanna and Cuevas suffered a 6-2, 6-7 (2), 4-6 defeat to their unseeded opponents in a thrilling second-round contest that lasted one hour and 55 minutes. With the defeat, India's challenge in the men's doubles competition has also folded. Earlier, veteran Leander Paes and his partner Andre Sa of Brazil as well as the all-Indian pair of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan made first-round exits from the event.(ANI)