US Open 2017: India's Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna begin doubles campaigns with contrasting wins

New York: India’s leading doubles players Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza began their US Open campaigns with victories in their respective events, albeit, in contrasting fashion. Bopanna and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas shrugged off a surprise first set lapse to regroup and beat the American pair of Bradley Klahn and Scott Lipksy 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the men’s doubles event. [caption id=“attachment_2596620” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File picture of Saina Mirza. Getty[/caption] In the second round they face the Italian team of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini who handed their American opponents Steve Johnson and Tommy Paul a double bagel in the first round. In the women’s doubles, Mirza and her Chinese partner Shuai Peng overcame the challenge of the Croatian team of Petra Martic and Donna Vekic in the opening round. It took the Indo-Chinese pair just 55 minutes to cross the first hurdle. Mirza and Peng broke their rivals four times but also dropped their serve once in the match. They next face Slovakia’s Jana Cepelova and Magdalena Rybarikova who overcame a close-contest against the Swiss-Czech pair of Viktorija Golubic and Kristyna Pliskova