Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza registered a 6-3, 6-3 victory over their opponents
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The Mutua Madrid Open finals did not go the way of the Indian players but both Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna did not let the disappointment affect their performances at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. Both of them rebounded from the setbacks to make a winning start in their respective categories at the Foro Italico on Wednesday.
In women’s doubles, the top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, who got a bye in Round 1, registered a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Taipei-Georgian duo of Su-Wei Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova to enter the quarter-finals. The Indo-Swiss pair put in 65% of first serves and broke their opponents five times for the win in 1 hour 1 min.
The top-ranked combine reached the finals of their last two clay tournaments in Stuttgart and Madrid but lost each time to the formidable French team of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. Hingis and Mirza, who won the Wimbledon, US Open and the Australian Open titles, need just the French Open crown to complete the much-coveted Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam.
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Tough win for Bopanna-Mergea
In men’s doubles second round action, sixth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea bounced back with a tough 6(5)-7, 6-4, 10-8 triumph over the French-Portuguese team of Benoit Paire and Joao Sousa. The Indo-Romanian duo was broken twice while they broke their opponents’ serves thrice in this nail-biting 1 hour 29 minute contest.
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About the author
Sudeshna Banerjee
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.
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