 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey knock out five-time US Open champions and top-seeded compatriots Mike and Bob Bryan
India's Leander Paes and Sania Mirza made it to the second round of the US Open with straight sets victories in their respective doubles events, in New York, on Thursday night.
Leander and his Spanish partner Fernando Verdasco got the better of Germany's Florian Mayer and Frank Moder 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of the men's doubles competition.
It took Paes and Verdasco just 62 minutes to advance, as they saved two break chances and converted all the three break-points they earned.
They next face American giant-killers Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, who knocked out five-time US Open champions and top-seeded compatriots Mike and Bob Bryan 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-3.
The 37-year-old Bryans were last beaten in the first round at the US Open in 2011. Besides their five titles at Flushing Meadows, they also have 16 Grand Slam championships overall. Their exit means for the first time since 2004 they will finish the season without a title.
In the women's doubles, the top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair of Sania and Martina Hingis dispatched Americans Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria 6-1, 6-2 in the first round.
However, the hot favourites dropped service twice in the 56-minute contest in which they broke seven times.
They face Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky and her Taipei partner Chia-Jung Chuang, who defeated the American team of Melanie Oudin and Jessica Pegula 6-4, 7-6(5).
Rohan Bopanna, who has already reached the men's doubles second round, will open his mixed doubles campaign on Saturday with his Tapiei partner Yung-Jan Chan. The second seeds face Belinda Bencic from Switzerland and Fernando Verdasco.
Sania will also begin her mixed doubles title defence with Brazilian partner Bruno Soares. They are up against Czech Republic's Andrea Hlavackova and Lukasz Kubot from Poland in the first round.