Australian Open: Bopanna and Zhang Move to Round Two in Mixed Doubles
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Synopsis
Rohan Bopanna and Shuai Zhang advance to the second round of the Australian Open mixed doubles after a straight sets victory over Ivan Dodig and Kristina Mladenovic. The match ended 6-4, 6-4, setting them up for a clash with the winners of the fourth-seeded pair.
Key Takeaways
- Rohan Bopanna and Shuai Zhang won their match 6-4, 6-4.
- The match lasted one hour and 12 minutes.
- They will face the winners of the fourth-seeded pair next.
- Bopanna previously reached the mixed doubles final in 2023.
- Other Indian players had mixed results in the tournament.
Melbourne, Jan 17 (NationPress) Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna and his Chinese partner Shuai Zhang have successfully moved into the second round of the Australian Open mixed doubles after defeating Ivan Dodig and Kristina Mladenovic with a score of 6-4, 6-4 on Friday.
The match concluded after one hour and 12 minutes, and the Indo-Chinese duo will next compete against the winners of the match between the fourth-seeded American pair of Taylor Townsend and Hugo Nys from Monaco, along with the wild card Australian duo of Maddison Inglis and Jason Kuber.
Bopanna and Zhang started strong, quickly establishing a 3-0 lead in the first set. Although Dodig and Mladenovic managed to break Zhang's serve, reducing the score to 3-2, Bopanna kept his cool and served out the set with a 6-4 finish.
In the second set, the pair overcame a late challenge, winning 6-4 while saving break points in the eighth game.
Earlier in the tournament, Bopanna, who faced an early exit from the men's doubles, had reached the mixed doubles final alongside Sania Mirza in 2023.
In other news, India's N Sriram Balaji and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela have also reached the second round of the Australian Open 2025 men’s doubles.
Unfortunately, the all-Indian duo of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prashanth could not progress past the first round, losing to Gregoire Jacq of France and Orlando Luz of Brazil with a score of 6-2, 6-2.
Another Indian player, Anirudh Chandrasekar, alongside his Polish partner Karol Drzewiecki, who entered the tournament as alternates, put forth a strong effort against Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Petros Tsitsipas of Greece, but eventually lost 7(7)-6(1), 2-6, 7(10)-6(6).
