Miami Open: Mirza/Hingis advance to second round; Bopanna/Mergea crash out

Bouncing back from their early exit in the BNP Paribas Open, defending champions Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis started their title defence on a positive note by defeating the unseeded pair of Lara Arruabarrena of Spain and Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-0, 6-4. In the match, which lasted less than an hour, the Indo-Swiss pair looked in complete control dominating the unseeded pair. Sania and Hingis pocketed the first set 6-0, breaking Lara Arruabarrena and Raluca Olaru three times in the first set.

In the second set, the unseeded pair produced a spirited comeback by putting the defending champions on the verge of a break seven times. Although they saved five break points, the second set proved to be a much-tighter contest than the first. Surviving the scares, Mirza and Hingis raced forward and won the second set 6-4 to advance to the second round.

However, in the men’s singles, the Indo-Romanian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea continued their indifferent start to the season after crashing out in the opening round to the Uruguayan-Spanish combination of Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers. After taking the first set 6-2, the Indo-Romanian pair squandered the advantage and lost the next set 4-6 to take the match to a tiebreaker. In the tie-breaker, Bopanna and Mergea surrendered the impetus to Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers and lost it 4-10 to bow out of the tournament.