Sania Mirza, in partnership with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic, got past Julia Goerges of Germany and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 6-4 in the doubles first round of the $7,699,423 BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, US.
The fourth seeded Indo-Czech pair will play Sara Errani of Italy and Alicja Rosolska of Poland in the pre-quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Davis Cupper Ramkumar Ramanathan, ranked 277, could not gain entry into the men’s qualifying event. The cut off fell at 183. Denis Istomin, ranked 69 and expected to be the spearhead for Uzbekistan in the forthcoming Davis Cup tie against India in April in Bengaluru, had to retire from his singles qualifying first round with a heel injury.
In the doubles main draw, multiple Grand Slam champion Leander Paes was given a wild card entry with Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina. Rohan Bopanna will partner Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and will play Novak Djokovic and Victor Troicki of Serbia in the first round.
The Indian spearhead for the Davis Cup tie, Yuki Bhambri was in fine form as he got past Agustin Velotti of Argentina. The 24-year-old Yuki led 6-1, 2-1 when his opponent retired. Yuki will play top seed Evgeny Donskoy of Russia in the semifinals.
The results:
$7,699,423 WTA BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, US
Doubles (first round): Barbora Strycova (Cze) & Sania Mirza bt Julia Goerges (Ger) & Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) 6-3, 6-4.
$50,000 Challenger men, Zhuhai, China
Singles (quarterfinals): Yuki Bhambri bt Agustin Velotti (Arg) 6-1, 2-1 (retired).
$15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Singles (quarterfinals): Julia Wachaczyk (Ger) bt Sai Samihitha 6-0, 6-0.
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