India's Rishika Sunkara became a first round casualty in the Junior Girls' Singles category of the Australian Open Grand Slam tournament, going down in straight-sets to Japanese Emi Mutaguchi in Melbourne on Sunday.
The 17-year-old Indian lost 7-5, 6-4 to Mutaguchi in an one hour and 38 minutes hard-fought battle.
Mutaguchi had a better first and second serve winning percentage than Sunkara. The Japanese also converted 90 per cent of the breakpoints that came her way in comparison to the 58 per cent conversion rate of the Indian.
In the mixed doubles category, India's Rohan Bopanna and Zi Yan of China also failed to cross the first hurdle and was defeated 7-6(6), 6-1 by third seeds Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in a gruelling battle.
Ten seeds Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi will take on eighth seeds Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in the third round match of the men's doubles category on Monday.
