Wimbledon 2021: Sania Mirza-Bethanie Mattek-Sands to open campaign against sixth seeds
India will have two women’s players at a Grand Slam for the first time as Ankita Raina also made the cut for the doubles event
It will be straight into the deep end for Sania Mirza as she returns to Wimbledon for the first time since 2017. The Indian ace has teamed up with America’s Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the women’s doubles event and will open her campaign against sixth seeds Alexa Guarachi and Desirae Krawczyk.
Mirza-Mattek-Sands have been drawn in the same half as top seeds and French Open champions Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova.
Though the Indian is currently ranked No 160 in the world in doubles, she will be using her protected ranking of 9 to get into the grasscourt major.
Mirza, who won the 2015 Championships with Martina Hingis, had taken a break from the game to start a family with husband Shoaib Malik. She gave birth to their first child, son Izhaan, in September 2018 and made a return to the pro circuit early in 2020.
But the 34-year-old has played a limited schedule due to a calf strain and the pandemic. She has played only three tournaments so far this year: Qatar Open, Dubai Open and the Eastbourne grasscourt event this week.
Mirza and Mattek-Sands, who have won five titles with each other, played the Wimbledon tune-up event together but faltered in the first round. The Indo-American pair went down 3-6, 4-6 to Sabrina Santamaria and Christina McHale on Wednesday.
India will have two women’s players at a Grand Slam for the first time as Ankita Raina also made the cut for the doubles event.
Raina, 28, is set to make her Wimbledon main draw debut as she and American partner Lauren Davis take on No 14 seeds Asia Muhammad and Jessica Pegula in the opening round. This will be Raina’s third Grand Slam appearance on the trot, but she is yet to register a win.
In the men’s doubles, Tokyo Olympics hopefuls Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan will continue to play together.
The Indian duo faces 11th seeds Henri Kontinen and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the opening round. Bopanna and Sharan, who are hoping to secure a Tokyo 2020 spot on the merit of their combined rankings, have played the grass season together.
They reached the quarterfinals of the Halle Open as well as the Eastbourne International.