Rio 2016: Mirza and Bopanna enter quarter-finals

When tennis ace Sania Mirza disappointed her fans by losing in the women’s doubles, India’s tennis hopes were transferred to the mixed doubles in which she is paired with Rohan Bopanna. This time, our hopes were justified: Mirza and Bopanna did us proud by beating the Australian pair of Samantha Stosur and John Peers in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, and entering the Rio Tennis quarter-finals with glory.

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The fourth-seeded Indian pair broke their opponents in the opening set by going 5-4 up to serve for the set. From then, the match was quite tricky, as they conceded the advantage in the next game itself and were broken back, with the score levelled at 5-5. Mirza and Bopanna had three set points as they bagged the opening set in 36 minutes. In the second set, Mirza and Bopanna were patchy to start with as they struggled to keep their own serve, but the Australian team too were quite laid back with their service and defence.

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It was a fun match to watch, especially as it ended happily for India. We hope to see a better and stronger performance by our stars in their next match. India is still awaiting gold in the Rio Olympics 2016.

Feature Image Credit: indiatoday.com