The Indian campaign at the 2016 French Open got off to a bright start as all three of Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes won their opening round matches on Wednesday. In women’s doubles, top seeds Mirza and Martina Hingis prevailed over the Russian pair of Daria Kasatkina and Alexandra Panova, 7-6(4), 6-2.
In men’s doubles, sixth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea thrashed the all-French team of Stephane Robert and Alexandre Sidorenko, 6-2, 6-2. In a later match, 16th seeds Leander Paes and Marcin Matkowski had a tougher day at the office as they overcame the challenge of the Belarusian-Uzbek combine Aliaksandr Bury and Denis Istomin, 7-6(3), 7-6(6).
Tight first set for Mirza-Hingis
Mirza and Hingis, who had come to this tournament right after winning the Italian Open, had a terrific start as they raced out to a 5-0 lead. However, the Russian team of Kasatkina and Panova was not intimidated and they fought back impressively.
The 5-0 lead for the top-ranked team soon disappeared and they were locked at 5-5. Mirza and Hingis were presented with a couple of set points at 6-5 which they could not convert and the set headed to the tie-break.
The breaker went the way of the top seeds which they won comfortably, 7-4.
Also Read: French Open: How Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes can qualify for the Rio Olympics
The second set was a much easier affair as the Indo-Swiss pair broke in the second game of the set to lead 2-0. They did not need much time after that for the win as they wrapped up in 1 hour and 31 minutes to enter the second round.
Comfortable win for Bopanna-Mergea
Men’s doubles sixth seed Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea were in impeccable form and hardly faced any resistance from their opponents – the French pair of Stephane Robert and Alexandre Sidorenko. The Madrid runners-up broke their unseeded rivals four times to record the first round win in just 56 minutes.
Gritty two-setter win for Paes-Matkowski
The 16th seeds Leander Paes and Marcin Matkowski had a poor start as they trailed Aliaksandr Bury and Denis Istomin 2-4 in the first set. But they steadied the ship from there and eventually a tie-break ensued. The Indo-Polish combine pocketed the opening set tie-break by a score of 7-3.
The second set was a tightly-contested affair and it stayed on serve until another tie-break commenced. In a very even contest, the 16th seeds earned a mini-break to go up 7-6 and with it a match point, which they duly converted.
