Paes-Raja in second round; Sania, Bopanna lose

It was a full house on Court 15 as India’s Leander Paes and Purav Raja cruised through the first round of the men’s doubles at the U.S Open Championships, defeating Serbia’s Janko Tipsarević and Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-3. This is Paes and Raja’s first partnership in a Grand Slam event. 

After his win, Paes said, “Purav and myself have been working very hard. It has been a long time since I have played with someone who understands the doubles game this intuitively. This is very exciting for us.” 

Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza, meanwhile, crashed out of their respective events. Bopanna, paired with Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas lost to the Italian team of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 7-5, 4-6, 4-6 in the second round of the men's doubles event. “We played a very good team, a Grand Slam winning team.  

We played really well in the first set. But the last set was tough, going down two breaks. It was a crucial hold and we missed it,” Bopanna said about his loss. 

Sania Mirza, who began her mixed doubles campaign today seeded second, lost to power duo Jelena Ostapenko and Fabrice Martin 7-5, 3-6, 6-10. 

Both are, however, still in the tournament - Bopanna will play the first of his mixed doubles match with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and Mirza will look to move on to the next round of the women’s doubles with her partner Peng Shuai from China. 

India’s Divij Sharan who was paired up with No. 66 Andre Begemann lost 4-6, 4-6 to Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez