Australian Open | Leander Paes, Sam Stosur progress to second round; Rohan Bopanna bows out
Leander Paes along with partner Sam Stosur made it to the second round in the mixed doubles category of the Australian Open after winning the opening game against Květa Peschke and Wesley Koolhof. Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and China's Zhaoxuan Yang crashed out in the first round of the same category.
Wildcard entrants Leander Paes and Sam Stosur sealed a convincing 6-4, 7-5 against Květa Peschke and Wesley Koolhof win in their opening encounter of this year’s Australian Open on Saturday. Competing in the mixed doubles category, the much-experienced duo of Paes-Stosur made their way to a positive start in Melbourne as they defeated Peschke-Koolhof in a match that lasted for an hour and 15 minutes.
The Indo-Australian pair, who have a combined age of 79, will play fifth seeds Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Gronefeld in the next round.
However, disappointment was in store for last year’s finalist Rohan Bopanna who crashed out of the tournament in the first round itself. Bopanna, who had paired up with Zhaoxuan Yang, went down 6-3, 3-6, 6-10 to fifth seeds Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld. The Indian veteran had reached the final of the mixed doubles with Timea Babos at the Australian Open last year as they lost the match by a scoreline 6-2, 4-6, 9-11 to Mate Pavic and Gabriela Dabrowski.
Bopanna and Paes had earlier bowed out of the men’s doubles event in the first round itself. Bopanna and Divij Sharan, who
