Sania, Bopanna to clash for semis spot in mixed doubles

 Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna set up a mixed doubles quarterfinal clash against each other at the Australian Open after winning their respective matches, here today.

Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski knocked out the fifth-seeded team of Yung-Jan Chan and Lukasz Kubot 6-4 5-7 10-3 in their second round match.

Later, Sania and her partner Croatian Ivan Dodig, seeded second, overcame stiff resistance from Saisai Zheng and Alexander Peya to triumph 2-6 6-3 10-6.

Austrian Peya served a double fault at 5-5 in the decisive Super Tie-Breaker but after that the second seeds reeled off five straight points to seal the issue.

One Indian is now certain to feature in the semifinals and if Leander Paes manages to win his quarterfinal with partner Martina Hingis, the semifinal will again feature two Indians.

Paes and Hingis are up against local favourites Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth.
Meanwhile, in the juniors events, Siddhant Banthia reached the boys doubles quarterfinal with Turkish partner Kaya Gore with a 6-3 7-6(6) win over sixth seeds Zizou Bergs and Yshai Oliel.

However, Mihika Yadav went down fighting in girls singles second round with a 2-6 1-6 defeat against 10th seeded Japanese Mai Hontama.