Australian Open: Sania Mirza-Anna Danilina storm into second round
Jan 19, 2023
Melbourne [Australia], January 19 : Sania Mirza of India and Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan advanced to the second round of the Australian Open 2023 women's doubles match on Thursday at Melbourne Park.
Eighth-seeded Saina Mirza and Anna Danilina defeated the unseeded American-Hungarian team of Dalma Galfi and Bernarda Pera 6-2, 7-5 in 1 hour, and 17 minutes.
In the third game of the match, Danilina and Mirza, who is competing in the final Grand Slam of her tennis career, broke their rivals to grab the lead. They quickly secured their second break and held their serves to easily win the first set.
Saina Mirza and Anna Danilina led 4-1 at one point in the second set, which likewise appeared to be an easy contest. However, Dalma Galfi and Bernarda Pera picked up the pace and won the following three games to take the match 5-4. This was their first break of the match.
The set was on the line when Saina Mirza and Anna Danilina produced a rally to win the following three games and advance to the round of 32.
Six-time Grand Slam champion Sania Mirza and Anna Danilina will compete in the following round against Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine and Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium.
Sania Mirza, who won the Australian Open women's doubles championship with Martina Hingis in 2016 and the mixed doubles championship with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009, will compete with Rohan Bopanna in the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open in 2023.
The all-Indian duo of Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni, as well as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela from Mexico, were eliminated from the men's doubles competition earlier in the day after dropping their respective first-round matches.
Miguel Angel Reyes and Ramkumar Ramanathan Varela won the first set easily but fell to the Greek duo of Stefano Tsitsipas and Petros Tsitsipas 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Despite mounting a comeback against the 14th-seeded players Andreas Mies of Germany and John Peers of the United States, Yuki Bhambri-Saketh Myneni lost 7(7)-6(5), 6(4)-7(7), 6-3.
The men's doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden from Australia is anticipated to face Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler from Austria in their opening round on Friday.
