London: It was a superb start for Indian tennis players as Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza notched up first round victories in their respective categories at Wimbledon here on Wednesday.
In the women’s doubles, Indo-American sixth seeds Sania and Liezel Huber beat Czech pair Renata Voracova and Klara Zakopalova 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to advance to the second round.
Having shared the first two sets, Sania and Liezel went on to dominate the third and final set, racing away to 5-0 lead in no time. Renata and Klara managed to win a game before losing the match in one hour and 27 minutes.
In the men’s doubles, 14th seeded Indo-French pair Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat experienced Finnish-Russian duo Jarkko Nieminen and Dmitry Tursunov 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(6) in two hours and seven minutes to proceed to the second round, where they will face German-Czech pairing Daniel Brands and Lukas Rosol.
Bhupathi and his partner Julian Knowle beat Leonardo Mayer and Alberto Ramos to move to the second round of the men’s doubles while the sixth seed Indo-US pair of Sania and Liezel Huber put paid to the hopes of Czech Republic’s Renata Voracova and Klara Zakopalova in the women’s doubles event.
The eighth seed Indo-Austrian pair of Bhupathi/Knowle recorded a 6-2 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-2 win over the unseeded Argentine-Spanish combination in two hours and 37 minutes. (Agencies)