Melbourne, Jan 23: Indian ace shuttlers Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi entered the second round of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open after a hard-fought 6-2, 6-4 victory. They won over 6th seeds Kveta Pleschke and Pavel Vizner of Czech Republic in Melbourne on Friday, Jan 23.
Bhupathi and Sania got hold of the first set in just 27 minutes. They also got complacent early in the second, but the Czech pair smashed through. Pleschke and Vizner established a lead breaking the Indian duo in the second and fourth games.
When everyone thought the team was slipping away, the unseeded Indian duo struck up a good rhythm and took three straight games, breaking back the fifth, then holding serve and breaking again in the seventh to reduce the deficit to 3-4.
Sania who crashed out of the Women's singles and doubles earlier, then held serve in the 8th game to get the Indian challenge back on track.
In the close ninth game Vizner was broken and then Bhupathi served out the set, which lasted 40 minutes, to make India's berth in the round 2. They will now face the local favourites Anastasia Rodionova and Stephen Huss, who defeated compatriots Jessica Moore and Carsten Ball 7-5, 7-5.
OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)
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