The all-Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna takes on alternates - Japan’s Makoto Ninomiya and Uruguay’s Ariel Behar - in the second round of 2023 Australian Open mixed doubles on Monday.
Sania is playing her final Grand Slam as she is set to retire after next month’s Dubai Masters.
Sania, 36, and Bopanna, 42, won the opening round fixture 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes against local wildcards Jaimee Fourlis and Luke Saville.
Sania won the mixed doubles crown in Melbourne with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009. With Bopanna, she has previously played mixed doubles once at French Open (2011) and twice at Wimbledon (2011, 2021) with the pair’s best result together being a quarterfinal-finish at the All England Club in 2011. They did, however, finish fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Manas Dhamne will play his second-round match in junior boys’ singles against Zhou Yi, 11th seed from China. Later in the day, Dhamne and his compatriot Aryan Shah will face the fifth-seeded Australian-Russian duo of Hayden Jones and Danil Panarin in opening round of doubles.
Here is the list of fixtures involving Indians on day eight of the 2023 Australian Open (estimated start timings in IST):
Court 7
Mixed Doubles, Second Round: Sania Mirza/Rohan Bopanna vs [Alternates] Makoto Ninomiya (JPN)/Ariel Behar (URG) - 11:30AM IST
ALSO READ: List of Indians playing at 2023 junior Australian Open
Court 12
Junior Boys’ Singles, Second Round: Manas Dhamne vs [11] Zhou Yi (CHN) - 7AM IST
Junior Boys’ Doubles, First Round: Manas Dhamne/Aryan Shah vs [5] Hayden Jones (AUS)/Danil Panarin (RUS) - 11:30AM IST
