Vishalakshi Verma:
Australian Open Men And Women Doubles: After losing their opening round matches at the Australian Open on Wednesday, veteran Indian players Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza were knocked out from the men’s and women’s doubles categories, respectively.
Wild card combo Christopher Rungkat and Treat Huey beat India’s Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin from the Australian Open men’s doubles event.
Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin opened strongly, but lost momentum midway through the first round, falling 6-3 6-7(2) 2-6 in one hour and 48 minutes. (Australian Open Men And Women Doubles)
Mirza and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok, on the other hand, fell 4-6 6-7(5) in one hour and 37 minutes to the Slovenian duo of Tamara Zidansek and Kaja Juvan.
Kichenok was off her game today, with individual errors flooding off her racquet the entire match.
However, the two Indians will compete in the mixed doubles event at the first Grand Slam of the season. Mirza has partnered up with American Rajeev Ram, while Bopanna has teamed up with Croatian Darija Jurak Schreiber. (Australian Open Men And Women Doubles)
In the singles qualifiers, none of the four Indians who competed made it to the main draw. Huey’s outstanding service games and net play were key in the match’s outcome, while Indonesian Rungkat, who initially appeared to be a weak link, steadily improved his game.
In the fourth game, Bopanna delivered a powerful forehand winner past Huey at 15-30 on Rungkat’s serve, but he couldn’t push the ball across the net on the next point, giving the Indo-French duo their first break chance. (Australian Open Men And Women Doubles)
With the break, Bopanna was in position to serve out the set in the ninth game, which he completed with ease, at love, with his powerful serves.
In the opening game of the second set, Rungkat and Huey went all out, attacking Bopanna’s serve and earning two breakpoints with a burst of wins, but could convert none.
Throughout the second set, which was decided by a tie-breaker, both teams maintained their serves.
However, Roger-Vasselin and Bopanna got two break chances in the 11th game, but their opponents saved both. The wild cards were 15-40 after a Roger-Vasselin win and a Rungkat forehand fault. (Australian Open Men And Women Doubles)
In the tie-breaker, the wild card duo scored six straight points to knot the match at 1-2.
After that, the momentum shifted drastically, with Rungkat and Huey winning the competition by easily breaking their opponents. With a double break, they jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The match was then finished by the Indonesian.
Australian Open Men And Women Doubles
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