Australian Open: Paes off to winning start, Sania loses in women's doubles

Melbourne: India had a mixed outing at the Australian Open as Leander Paes got off to a winning start in mixed doubles but fourth seeds Sania Mirza and her partner's campaign in women's doubles ended with a loss to an unseeded pair here on Sunday. Veteran Paes and Switzerland's Martina Hingis won their first match against Australians Destanee Aiava and Marc Polmans 6-4 6-3 to progress to the round of 16 at the Melbourne Park. The Indo-Siwss duo took 51 minutes to pull off a straight sets win with the help of two aces. They had 20 winners and committed nine unforced errors to their opponents' 15 winners and 12 unforced errors. However, Sania was in for disappointment as the Indian, partnering Barbora Strcov of Czech Republic, lost to Japanese E Hozumi and M Kato 3-6 6-2 2-6 in a third round match that lasted one hour and 53 minutes. In mixed doubles though, Sania and Croatia's Ivan Dodig are in the second round, and so did Rohan Bopanna, winning their matches yesterday.