Indian Players in Mixed Doubles Success

Written by: Staff on 30th June 2011

Indian Players in Mixed Doubles Success

Sania Mirza of India returns to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during their second round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 26 May 2011. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

Four of India’s top ranked players are having huge success in the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon.

No, 6 seeds Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are in the third round after beating Jamie Murray of England and Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia in the second round, 7-6 (5) 6-2. The Indian pair had a bye in the firs round due to their seeding. Sania and Rohan will play Czech duo Martin Damm and Renata Voracova.

Rohan Bopanna is currently ranked No.9 on the doubles ranking, which is his highest career ranking. Bopanna and his regular doubles partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan form the famous “IndoPak Express team. In 2010 the team broke in to the top 10 on the world ranking.

Leander Paes and Cara Black have won countless Grand Slams between them. Cara has won all four Grand Slams in Mixed Doubles. Leander Paes, one of India’s most famous sports people has won 6 Mixed Doubles Grand Slam titles.

The Paes/Black team are the No. 14 seed in the mixed event and also had a bye in the first round. They cruised past Roger Wassen of Holland and Alicja Rosolska of Poland, 6-1 6-4. To make it through to the quarter final, Paes/Black have to take out the No. 3 seeds, Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, not an easy task.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina of Russia are already through to the quarter final. The Indian/Russian pairing are seeded No. 4 in the event. After having a bye in the first round they beat the Australian pair Stephen Huss and Anastasia Rodionova, 6-2 7-6 (3). The third round score was the same as the in the previous round and the defeated opponents were American Eric Butorac and Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

Thursday’s schedule will see Paes/Black in action on Court Two. Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza are first match on Court Two.

Another Indian super star Vijay Amritraj will team up with Aussie John Fitzgerald in the Senior Invitational Event. The duo will play the Australian combination of Peter McNamara and Paul McNamee.