Rome Masters: Sania-Hingis, Bopanna-Mergea storm into semis

After defeating unseeded pair of Su-Wei Hsieh and Oksana Kalashnikova in the second round, the Indo-Swiss duo took on the American pairing of Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears in the quarter-final. Mirza and Hingis, who have been in good form lately after making it to consecutive finals at Stuttgart and Madrid, broke the American duo thrice in the first set to start the match on a positive note. Although Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears returned the favour by breaking the top seeds twice, the Australian Open champions dominated the first service by winning 72% of them. With the American pair struggling to find their rhythm, the top seeds took the first set 6-4.

The second set followed a similar pattern as the first with double faults and errors leading to the downfall of Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears. Sania and Hingis once again broke the American duo thrice, and saved five break points to rush into a lead. With the top seeds dominating the game with their serves, the unseeded pair surrendered the set 6-2 to allow Mirza and Hingis entry into the semi-finals. Sania and Hingis will next face unseeded pair of Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu.

In the men’s doubles, sixth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea also made light work of their day with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the unseeded pair of Phillipe Kohlschreiber and Vicktor Troicki. The sixth seeds dominated the game and broke the German-Serbian pair once in the first set before claiming it 6-3. Phillipe Kohlschreiber and Vicktor Troicki put in a spirited effort to bounce back into the match by almost breaking Bopanna and Mergea thrice. However, the Indo-Romanian pair saved all three break points and raced home to win the set 6-4 to enter the semi-finals. They will face Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock in the semi-final on Saturday.