Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski have built a seven-match winning streak and have now entered the quarter-finals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships in London on Wednesday. But curtains came down on the campaign of India’s other big star, Sania Mirza, who crashed out of the mixed doubles in the third round alongside Croatia’s Ivan Dodig.
The 10th seeded Bopanna and Dabrowski needed just 1 hour 3 minutes to prevail over the all-Croatian pair of Nikola Mektic and Ana Konjuh, 7-6(5), 6-2.
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They finished with 10 winners against five unforced errors and nine aces. Bopanna and Dabrowski were able to convert two out of their four break point opportunities.
This was the seventh win in a row for the Indo-Canadian pair, who won the French Open title a month ago in Paris, saving two match points in the final. Three more wins at Wimbledon will help them accomplish the rare feat of a ‘Channel Slam’.
Next up for them are the defending champions Henri Kontinen and Heather Watson, who were surprise winners last year.
Mirza and Dodig fall to defending champions
The Finnish-British pair halted the run of the fourth-seeded Mirza and Dodig with a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory in 1 hour 26 minutes.
In the first set, the two teams traded one break apiece to force a tie-break which was won by the defending champions. Winning the opener boosted their confidence and they carved out a vital break of serve in the second to seal their quarter-final spot.
With this defeat, Mirza’s 2017 Wimbledon titles hopes are totally over as she and Kirsten Flipkens had earlier lost their ladies doubles third round match to the third seeds Martina Hingis and Yung-Jan Chan.
Mixed fortunes for Zeel Desai
In the juniors section, India’s rising star Zeel Desai fell in girls’ singles but secured a win in doubles. The 15th seeded Desai was sent packing 4-6, 4-6 by the top-seeded American Kayla Day.
Later in doubles, she and Switzerland’s Lulu Sun ground out a hard-fought 6(4)-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina and Naho Sato of Japan.
Up next is a tough challenge as they face the second seeds Claire Liu and Taylor Johnson.
