Australian Open 2020: Sania Mirza to partner Rohan Bopanna after injury forces Rajeev Ram out

Sania Mirza will partner Rohan Bopanna at Australian Open in Melbourne after Rajeev Ram, her first choice, pulled out due to injury. Mirza is making her return to the tour following the birth of her son and recovery that is needed with childbirth. The Australian Open gets underway on 20 January. [caption id=“attachment_2954798” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna. Twitter[/caption] “I will be playing with Sania at the Australian Open,” Bopanna was quoted as saying by New Indian Express. “She was initially teamed up with Rajeev but he had pulled out. I am obviously excited to be partnering with her, partners from the same countries are a rarity. I am looking forward to it.” Mirza last took court in October 2017 and will get the return underway at Hobart International next week where she will partner Nadiia Kichenok. Bopanna, meanwhile, will team up with Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama. Bopanna’s regular partner Denis Shapovalov had decided to give the doubles event a miss. Bopanna had a great start to the year having won in Doha last week – made doubly special by the presence of daughter in the stands alongside his wife. Bopanna and Wesley Koolhof beat the combination of Luke Bambridge and Santiago Gonzalez 3-6, 6-2, 10-6 for the title. In an Olympic year, Bopanna would most likely team up with Divij Sharan in men’s doubles and Mirza in the mixed doubles. But to make the cut, they have to improve their individual rankings which warrants pairing with better ranked players.