Miami Open: Mirza/Hingis advance to second round; Bopanna/Mergea crash out
Top-seeds Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis entered the second round of the 2016 Miami Open on Thursday after defeating Lara Arruabarrena and Raluca Olaru in straight sets. However, in the men’s doubles, the Indo-Romanian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea crashed out in the first round.
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