Australian Open: Doubles still the best bet for India
By IANSSunday, January 17, 2010
MELBOURNE - Sania Mirza will be the only Indian playing in the singles main draw of the Australian Open tennis that begins at the Melbourne Park here Monday.
With Somdev Devvarman failing to make the grade, losing to Slovenian Blaz Kavcic in the final qualifying round, it is Sania again who will be shouldering the home expectations.
She faces a tough first round competitor in 27th ranked Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai of France Monday. The two are tied 1-1, with Rezai winning in their previous meeting at Madrid last year. Sania’s victory over Rezai came in 2006 at the Kolkata Sunfeast Open.
In doubles, Sania will play with her new partner, Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.
The veteran doubles players — Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi — still remain India’s best bet in the first Grand Slam of the year. While Leander will be partnering Czech Lukas Dlouhy, Bhupathi will begin the season with one-time partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
Paes and Dlouhy had some good performance under their belt and reached the finals at Brisbane.
Bhupathi and Mirnyi had decided in November to play together. In fact, Bhupathi’s last Grand Slam title came with Mirnyi, when they won US Open in 2002, and the two would like to give their best for an encore.
As for Sania, she won the mixed doubles title with Bhupathi last year here but her recent singles performance does not hold much promise. The 23-year old Hyderabadi, ranked 56th, has not moved beyond the third round here and her run-up to the event has not been inspiring. She crashed out early at Auckland and Hobart warm up events.
–Indo- Asian News Service
