Both Saina and Bopanna had earlier crashed out of the women’s and men’s doubles events, respectively, after losing their first-round matches.
Rohan Bopanna file image. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)
The Indo-Croatian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Darija Jurak Schreiber made a first-round exit from the 2022 Australian Open mixed doubles tennis event after losing to Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok, here on Saturday. Bopanna-Schreiber lost 6-1, 4-6, 9-11 in one hour and three minutes of the first-round match.
Bopanna and Schrieber came out swinging and won the first set 6-1 with a dominating display. The duo made just one unforced error and converted two of the three breakpoints in the opening set.
However, Golubev-Kichenok came back strong and took a 4-2 lead in the second set. Bopanna and Schrieber won the next two games but Golubev and Kichenok took the set 6-4, stretching the match in the super tiebreaker.
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Bopanna and Schrieber were leading 9-6 in the decider but Golubev and Kichenok pocketed the match after saving three match points and converting their own. With this defeat, B’panna’s campaign at the first Grand Slam of the year came to an end.
Sania Mirza, who progressed to the second round with her American mixed partner Rajeev Ram, now remains the only Indian alive at the competition. They will face the wild card pair of Australia’s Ellen Perez and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands on Sunday.
Both Saina and Bopanna had earlier crashed out of the women’s and men’s doubles events, respectively, after losing their first-round matches.
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