US Open 2021: India’s Sania Mirza unseeded in mixed doubles main draw

Sania Mirza and her American partner Rajeev Ram will take on Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Kevin Krawietz of Germany in the first round of the US Open 2021 mixed doubles competition.

The unseeded pair of Sania Mirza and Rajeev Ram could next face the No. 4 seeds Luisa Stefani and Marcelo Melo of Brazil in the second round. In the quarter-finals, Sania Mirza and Rajeev Ram could run into the No. 7 seeds Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei and Michael Venus of New Zealand.

A total of 32 pairs will take part in the US Open mixed doubles main draw.

Sania Mirza had made the round of 16 in mixed doubles at Wimbledon 2021 along with fellow Indian Rohan Bopanna. The 34-year old Sania Mirza has won three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles – the 2009 Australian Open, the 2012 French Open and the 2014 US Open.

Last week, Sania Mirza had made the women’s doubles final of the Cleveland Championships along with another American, Christina McHale. The pair lost to Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara of Japan.

“Reaching the final of the run-up WTA tournament in Cleveland is definitely a morale-boosting one and I hope I can carry the momentum into the Grand Slam,” Sania told Telangana Today.

Sania Mirza will also be playing women’s doubles at the US Open with her American partner Coco Vandeweghe, while Rohan Bopanna will be participating in men’s doubles with his Croatian partner Ivan Dodig as the No. 13 seeds.

Ivan Dodig is seeded No. 1 in the mixed doubles, along with his American partner Nicole Melichar-Martinez.

There will be no Indian representation in singles at Flushing Meadows. Ankita Raina, Sumit Nagal, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran could qualify for the US Open main singles draw this time.