Paes-Black outwit Indians
Bhupathi, Sania fail to sustain second-set momentum
Leander Paes emerged victorious in a contest involving three Indians as he and his partner Cara Black defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza to advance to the mixed doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon on Monday.
Top-seeded Paes and Zimbabwean Black won 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 in the two-hour, seven-minute third-round contest.
Paes and Black, who won the US Open mixed doubles title last year, were clearly the better pair in the first match between the pairs and took advantage of unforced errors from their opponents. Thirteenth seeds Bhupathi and Sania committed nine double-faults as compared to just one by their opponents, though the Indian pair sent down more aces (6 to 3).
Paes and Black got as many as eight break points in the first set out of which they converted two to win it in 35 minutes.
Bhupathi and Sania were not ready to give up without a fight and with Paes and Black committing unforced errors under pressure in the second set, they took it on a tie-break.
But the second-set fightback didn’t last long and Bhupathi and Sania were again done in by unforced errors and double-faults, making it easy for Paes and Black to pocket the decider in 37 minutes.
Sitaram exits
The Indian challenge ended in the Wimbledon Junior championships after Sudarwa Sitaram’s straight-set demolition at the hands of Australian Bernard Tomic.
The unseeded Indian lost his second round match 2-6, 2-6 in mere 42 minutes.
The Indian was no match to his formidable opponent as he was broken twice in the first set and thrice in the second set.
Sitaram committed four double-faults compared to none by last year’s Junior Australian Open champion. The only break Sitaram could earn was in the second set. The Coimbatore lad had defeated Egyptian Karim-Mohamed Maamoun in the first round.
India badly missed Yuki Bhambri, the junior Australian Open title winner this year, as he opted to play in the ongoing ITF Futures tournament in a bid to improve his singles ranking.
