London: The pair of Sania Mirza and Rushmi Chakravarthi were knocked out of the women’s doubles competition at the London Games on Saturday after losing to Chinese Taipei pair of Su Wei Hsieh and Chia-Jung Chuang in a three sets.
The Indians fought their way back in the second set but lost the opening round match 1-6, 6-3, 1-6 in an hour and 31 minutes.
Sania and Rushmi, the latter who was making her Olympic debut, were never serious contenders in this event and India’s medal hopes rest in men’s doubles and mixed doubles competitions.
Sania and Rushmi, bronze medal winners at the 2010 Commonwealth Games at home, were playing together for the first time after the Delhi Games.
The Indian pair got five chances to break the opposition in the first set alone but they failed to convert a single one.
Although they came back to win the second set 6-3, the Chinese Taipei pari outclassed them in the decider as they raced to a 5-0 lead before the Indians pulled one game back. But it was too late in the end.
Sania will now play in the mixed doubles along with Leander Paes.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will compete in men’s doubles while Paes will begin his campaign with Vishnu Vardhan on Sunday, when Somdev will also play his first round singles match.
In other tennis news, Roger Federer got Switzerland off to a good start by beating Alejandro Falla of Columbia 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round. It wasn’t plain sailing for the Wimbledon champion, who is chasing his first Olympic singles gold, but despite losing the second set, won comfortably in the third.
Serena Williams of the USA also won her first round encounter, which saw her take on Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. The American came through 6-3, 6-1 against the Serb.
Samantha Stosur and Li Na were the day’s biggest casualties, as they were upset in three-set matches.
Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain beat US Open champion Stosur of Australia, 3-6, 7-5, 10-8, and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated China’s Li, who won the French Open last year, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. (PTI)