Wimbledon: Paes-Stepanek survive scare, Sania-Cara crash out

While Indian tennis player Leander Paes progressed to the third round of men’s doubles, compatriot Sania Mirza lost out in the women’s doubles second round on a rain affected Day 6 of the All England Tennis Championship at Wimbledon here. Heavy showers stopped play Saturday afternoon when Mexican-American pair Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky were leading 2-1 in the first set against fifth seeded Indo-Czech duo Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek. [caption id=“attachment_1594529” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Radek Stepanek (R) and Leander Paes (L) talk between points against Santiago Gonzalez and Scott Lipsky during their men’s doubles second round match. AFP[/caption] After the restart on Court No.10, veterans Paes and Stepanek got a tough fight from their unseeded opponents but came out victorious 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 11-9 in a three hour battle. After sharing the first four sets, both teams successfully defended their service games until at the very end the fifth seeds broke Gonzalez and Lipsky on their fifth break point of the set, which lasted an hour and 15 minutes. Paes-Stepanek next play the winners of the match between Feliciano Lopez and Jurgen Melzer and 11th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. On the adjacent Court No.11, Indo-Zimbabwean fourth seeds Sania and Cara Black were defeated 6-2, 6-7(7), 4-6 by Russian-Czech combine of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova in two hours and 26 minutes. Sania and Cara were well on their way to clinching the match after easily winning the first set in 26 minutes. The fourth seeds were leading the second set tie-breaker, but Anastasia and Lucie turned the tables by winning the set and pushing the match into the decider. In the third set, the unseeded pair decisively broke Sania and Cara twice to enter the third round. Rohan Bopanna’s both men’s and mixed doubles matches were cancelled and postponed due to inclement weather. Sunday is a rest day and action begins Monday at the only grass court Major tournament in the Tennis circuit. IANS