WTA 500: Sania off to winning start

Adelaide: On an all-win day for Indian tennis players, Sania Mirza and the pair of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rohan Bopanna emerged victorious in their respective first round matches, albeit in contrasting fashion, in the ATP and WTA tournaments, here on Tuesday. Sania and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok overcame a first-set thrashing to knock out […]

Adelaide: On an all-win day for Indian tennis players, Sania Mirza and the pair of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rohan Bopanna emerged victorious in their respective first round matches, albeit in contrasting fashion, in the ATP and WTA tournaments, here on Tuesday.

Sania and her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok overcame a first-set thrashing to knock out second seeds Gabriella Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos 1-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the WTA 500 event.

---

In the ATP 250 men’s event, the Indian combination of Ramkumar and veteran Bopanna, pairing up together for the first time on the ATP tour, had an easy day out.

They trounced American Jamie Cerretani and Brazilian Fernando Romboli 6-2,6-1 to set up the pre-quarterfinal with eighth seed American pair of Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow.

Since India will host Denmark on grass courts in New Delhi in their next Davis Cup tie in March, it is a possibility that Bopanna and Ramkumar, who has developed a fantastic serve and volley game, may pair up for the doubles.

This tournament will give them that opportunity to find out what works for them, if at all the captain decides to field them as a team.

Interestingly, Ramkumar got a chance to play with Denmark’s top singles player Holger Rune in the singles Qualifiers and lost 4-6,6-7(7) in a close first round match. Rune, ranked 103, eventually qualified for the main draw.

---

Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.

Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .

---