Sania Mirza-Rohan Bopanna duo fall short at Wimbledon
The Indian mixed doubles pair lost a high-quality third round tie to the 14th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Solvenia’s Andreja Klepac.
Indian mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna bowed out of Wimbledon 2021 following a round of 16 loss to the 14th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Solvenia’s Andreja Klepac on Wednesday.
In a tennis match that was played over two days due to persistent rain at the All England Club in London, the Indians were on the receiving end of a 6-3, 3-6, 11-9 defeat.
On a rain-curtailed Tuesday, the Bopanna-Mirza pair barely got going as the Rojer and Klepac eased to a 1-0 lead before the match was eventually postponed following numerous suspensions due to rain.
But on Wednesday, it was the Indian duo that came out swinging, breaking their opponents in the second game of the second set. They then proceeded to hold the advantage to restore parity in the match.
Rohan Bopanna was on the money with his serves -- often kissing the ‘T’ on his first serves -- while Sania Mirza complemented well with some delightful tennis overall.
Though the Dutch-Slovenian pair took some time and grew into the second set at the later stage, they couldn’t stop the Indians from forcing a decider.
The third set was also a close one as both the men were dominant with their serves while the women complimented them well to extend the match beyond two hours.
The Indian combination was on the verge of losing the match on two occasions earlier in the set, but Bopanna was alert to avert the crisis with some crisp returns.
The rescue act, however, wasn’t enough as Jean-Julien Rojer and Andreja Klepac pounced on some weak serves from Sania Mirza in the 19th game to seal the match and book their place in the quarter-finals.
They will take on Great Britain’s Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk of the USA next.
The loss also brought an end to India’s campaign at this season’s third Grand Slam.
Sania Mirza and her women’s doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands had exited the tournament in the second round while Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan couldn’t get past their opening hurdle in men’s doubles.
Divij and his British partner and wife Samantha Murray Sharan exited the mixed doubles tournament from the second round.
Ankita Raina and Ramkumar Ramanathan, meanwhile, were ousted from the mixed doubles event in the opening round by Bopanna and Sania. Raina had earlier lost in her women’s doubles opening round match as well.