Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna progress to mixed doubles 2nd round of Wimbledon

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna overcame Ankita Raina-Ramkumar Ramanthan in an unique all-Indian battle on the grass courts of Wimbledon on Friday to progress to the mixed doubles second round.

 

Capitalising on Ankita Raina’s poor serve, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza won the first set 6-2 before Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina mounted a fightback to take the 2nd  set to tie-breaker. But the Tokyo-bound pair manoeuvred the challenge and won 7-6 (7-5) to enter 2nd round, thus ending



another challenge of the other Indian pair.

 

The experienced Indian duo, reunited on the mixed doubles tour, won 6-2 7-6(5) in a match that lasted 69 minutes. Mirza, 34 years old, and Bopanna, 41, started off strongly to race through the first set but the Wimbledon debutants then came storming back in the second set to go into a 4-1 lead. Mirza and Bopanna however steadied the ship to force a tiebreaker and sealed the deal in straight sets.