TheSportsCampus

On a day of upsets when the Championships lost a defending champion, a former winner and the world no.1 in ladies singles, Monday turned out to be a mixed bag for the Indians. While, India's challenge ended in the men's doubles event, there was good news in the Mixed Doubles as both Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes moved into the third round.

India's no.1 singles player Somdev Devvarman and his doubles partner Kei Nishikori have bowed of the Wimbledon Championships on Monday after they were brushed aside 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) by the sixth seeded pair of Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic. The unseeded duo was no match for the wily serve and volley game of the French-Serbian combo and went down in straight sets in the second round encounter played on Court no.16.

 

Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina were in imperious form against their Australian rivals Stephen Huss and Anastasia Rodionova, especially in the opening set as they cruised into round three of the Mixed Doubles with a 6-2, 7-6(7-3) triumph over their unseeded adversaries. The Indo-Russian duo was particularly impressive in their court coverage and were helped by the fact that the Aussie combo had little experience of playing on the big stage. Bhupathi and Vesnina will next play American Eric Butorac and Olga Govortsova of Belarus for a place in the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Leander Paes and his veteran partner Cara Black gave a grass court lesson to their Dutch-Polish opponents Rogier Wassen and Alicja Rosolska, coasting through 6-1, 6-4 to keep their title defence on track.

Mixed Doubles action continues on Tuesday with the first lady of Indian tennis Sania Mirza teaming up with Rohan Bopanna to slug it out against Britain's Jamie Murray and Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia in the third match on Centre-Court. Before setting her foot on the dream court, Sania with her partner Elena Vesnina could have a tough encounter in the ladies doubles with the 13th seeds Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Vesnina too is on double duty, teaming up with Bhupathi again to take on Butorac and Govortsova in the final match on Court no.2.