Indian Tennis star Leander Paes and his partner Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday crashed out of the mixed doubles events of the ongoing Australian Open. The duo lost 2-6, 5-7 to the pair of Jamie Murray and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the second round.
Paes and Ostapenko were thoroughly outplayed as they committed four double faults in comparison to their opponents’ none. Murray and Bethanie also hit four aces and scored 66 per cent of points on the first serve. In total the British-American pair won 66 points, while Pae and Ostapenko won 40.
Also, this was Paes’ last professional match in Melbourne having already declared that 2020 would be his last year on the Pro circuit. The 46-year-old will bring an end to a career which has seen him become only the second man after Rod Laver to win a Major in three different decades.
With Paes and Sania Mirza and Prjanesh Gunneswaran already out, Rohan Bopanna remains the last player from the Indian contingent. He will take to the court with Nadiia Kichenok for their quarter-final match of the mixed doubles event against the duo of Nikola Mektic and Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday.
Earlier on the day, top seed women’s singles player Ashleigh Barty defeated Petra Kvitova comfortably to set up a semis clash with Sofia Kenin. Barty won 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 to reach the semifinal at the year’s first Major for the first time.
The victory is also being seen as successful revenge for the 23-year-old Australian as the two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova had defeated her at the same stage in 2019.
“It’s been absolutely incredible. I knew that I had to bring my best today against Petra, and that first set was crucial,” said Barty as quoted by AFP via PTI.