Australian Open roundup: Mirza and Hingis march on; Bopanna-Mergea through to round 2

The No. 1 seeded pair of Mirza and Hingis had to hardly break a sweat in their straight-set 6-2, 6-3 win over Latin American pair of Mariana Duque-Marino and Teliano Pereira. The Indo-Swiss pair produced 30 winners in a match which lasted 68 minutes.

Mirza and Hingis, who have now extended their unbeaten run to 31 matches, will now face the Ukrainian twin sisters Nadiia Kichenok and Lyudmyla Kichenok in their second round fixture. The duo overcame the Australian pair of Kimberly Birrell and Priscilla Hon 6-4, 6-3 earlier today.

'SanTina' are gunning for their 12th title as a pair, and their third Grand Slam trophy. After dominating the circuit last year, the pair has already picked up the Brisbane Open and Sydney Open title in 2016.

In men's doubles, fourth-seeded Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea progressed to the second round after a 7-5, 6-3 win over the Australian pair of Omar Jasika and Nick Kyrgios. They will now face Czech pair Lukas Dlouhy and Jiri Vesely in the second round.

India's other hope in the men's doubles, Mahesh Bhupati and Gilles Muller, will face the third-seeded Bryan brothers in the second round clash tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles draw was released earlier today, and three Indians will participate in the first round. Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig are the number one seeds in the draw, and they will face the Australian pair of Ajla Tomljanovic and Nick Kyrgios in the opening round. Ivan Dodig and Sania Mirza played together for the Indian Aces, in the recently concluded International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).

Sania's women's doubles partner Martina Hingis will resume her partnership with Leander Paes. Paes and Hingis won three Grand Slams last year, including the Australian Open, and will be one of the teams to watch out for. Paes will like to redeem himself in mixed doubles, after being knocked out of the men's doubles in the first round. The duo will face the Russian-German pair of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Dominic Inglot in their first game.

Rohan Bopanna will partner Yung-Jan Chan, elder of the Chan sisters, of Chinese Taipei. They are the third-seeded team in the draw, and will face the Australian pair of Kimberly Birrell and John Millman in the first round.