London: Capping off a great day for India, Sania Mirza advanced to the third round of the women’s and mixed doubles, while Rohan Bopanna and Purav Raja also won their respective mixed matches at the Wimbledon here Saturday.
Fourth-seeded Mirza and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig needed 78 minutes to beat the Japanese duo of Yusuke Watanuki and Makoto Ninomiya 7-6(7-5), 6-2 to seal a third round berth. The Indo-Croatian duo hit six aces but also conceded four double faults.
In women’s doubles, Sania and her Belgian partner Kirsten Flipkens beat the British pair of Naomi Broady and Heather Watson 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. They will next face third seeds Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei.
Partnering Japan’s Eri Hozumi, Raja carved out a win in his first round mixed doubles match over the American-Czech pair of James Cerretani and Renata Voracava 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. The French mixed doubles winners Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski continued with their winning run beating the French-Romanian combo of Fabrice Martin and Raluca Olaru 7-6(7-2), 7-5 to seal a third round berth.
