Rio de Janeiro: Playing to a plan fourth-seeded of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna displayed combative form as they outclassed Australian pair of Samantha Stosur and John Peers 7-5, 6-4 in the opening round of Olympic Tennis Mixed double here.
John Peers opened the match with powerful serve while Rohan Bopanna had difficulty with his first serve. Stosur looked focuse while Sania was more ebullient on the court.
Playing in cold and breezy conditions the two pairs held their serves in the firsrt eight games and it was in the ninth that the Indians broke Peers to lead 5-4.
However, Bopanna while serving for the set failed to hold on to it because of a backhand volley error by Sania.
However this not made much difference to the Indian who kept up the pressure and the seasoned Samantha Stosur felt the heat and she caved in. A third straight break gave the Indians an opening and they did not mess it up as Sania held on to her serve to win the set 7-5 in 36 minutes.
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The second set began much like the first, with both teams holding serve. Bopanna looked bit tentative with his serve but the Australia failed to attack him or put him under pressure. On the other hand their game suddenly fell apart and they started committing more errors.
At 2-2, Peers' serve came under assault with Sania‘s sizzling backhand leaving Stosur bewildered and stranded. A double fault by Peers gave India the all-important break.
Bopanna held his serve so did Peers but the Indian’s serve suddenly became lethal and he finished the set and match with a couple of aces.
The conditions are tough, especially because it is very windy. We are used to the heat but this is harder," Sania said after the match.
"It is easier for the guys because they have the power. Windy is tough to play, especially when guys serve to you in the mixed it is very tough to connect on your returns.
“I return well normally but when it's windy it takes away a big strength of mine. I was happy that I was able to connect at the crucial points and that's why we came out on top."
I have been saying this from the very beginning how tough it is going to be to win every match here," Sania said. "We play multiple grand slam winners in every match, no matter who we play either the girl or the guy has won slams.
Bopanna and Sania will next face Great Britain's Andy Murray and Heather Watson in the quarterfinals.
"Heather is a great player; she has won a slam very recently at Wimbledon. She's confident and we all know what a champion Andy is. We feel good to have won our first round but we obviously feel we can play better. Hopefully that will happen."
(The writer is a senior sport journalist)