Wimbledon 2016 | Sania, Dodig and Bopanna, Rodionova exit mixed doubles
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India had a poor day at the Wimbledon today with both Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna crashing out of the mixed doubles event. The exits raise concerns for India's medal hopes at the Olympics next month with the added issue of both Mirza and Bopanna having chosen to not play together.
Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig started the match well winning the first set 6-4 against Brits Neal Skupski and Anna Smith. The Indo-Croatian pair broke their opponents in the third game of the set to go 2-1 up, but were broken back immediately. After winning another break to go 3-2, they held on for the next game and went on to win 6-4.
However, in an epic second set, the pair missed break points on their opponent's first two service games. The error came to bite them back as the British pair broke them to go 3-1. Sania and Dodig then failed to convert three break points each in the next two service games they faced. The blunders finally cost them the set 3-6.
In the third, Mirza and Dodig were well on the way to a comfortable win with a 3-0 lead and then a 5-2 lead. But their opponents rattled off five straight games to oust the Indo-Croatian pair out of the Wimbledon taking just over two hours.
Rohan Bopanna and Anastasia Rodionova, meanwhile, lost to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Mariana Duque-Marino in straight sets 6-7, 3-6. The pair took the first set to the tie-break where they had a 5-4 lead but lost three straight points to lose the set. In the second set, Bopanna and Rodionova held on until 3-3, but their Colombian opponents won three straight games to shunt the pair out of the event.
India's hopes in the mixed doubles event now rest on Leander Paes and Martina Hingis. However, the loss of the other two, who are representing India in the Olympics together, has raised alarm bells just a month ahead of the quadrennial event.
