Indians at the Aus Open: Sania and Bopanna march forth in doubles

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna made winning starts to their respective campaigns at the Australian Open with contrasting opening-round victories with their doubles partners, in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Sania Mirza and CzechRepublic's Barbora Strycova recorded a resounding 6-3, 6-1 win over the British pair of Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith in the women's doubles event.

Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas, seeded 15th, pipped Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil and Maximo Gonzalez from Argentina 6-4, 7-6(4) in the men's doubles first round.

They next face Australian pair Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley.

In the first set of their opening match, Sania and Barbora drew the first blood in the sixth game.

Sania hit a deep forehand down the line to get a third break point after having missed out on the first two. Rae then made an unforced error off the next service as her backhand volley hit the net. The Indian then served out the set in the next game.

Sania and Barbora were more authoritative in the second set as they broke the rivals twice to easily close the match.

IMAGE: India’s Sania Mirza, left, and her Czech Republic partner Barbora Strycova

Photograph: Twitter