RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 12: Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna entered the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event of tennis competition at the Rio Olympics with a straight-set win over Australian pair of Samantha Stosur and John Peers here today.
Sania and Bopanna, who are being touted as India�s medal hope at the Olympics, broke little sweat in their opening round match to post a 7-5, 6-4 win in 73 minutes.
The fourth seeded Indian pair took a little time to settle down but once they got the rhythm, there was hardly any looking back. �Personally for me it would be amazing to win a medal at the Olympics, which I don�t have. It would mean the world for us. We would do whatever we can and put our best forward,� the World No. 1 women�s doubles player Sania told reporters after the match.
On a chilly and windy evening at a small court of the Tennis Centre in Barra, a lot of Indian supporters waited patiently since 3.30pm local time for the match to begin. It was delayed by men�s doubles semifinals featuring Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez, that took more than two hours to finish.
�I was struggling with the wind and took a while to get set,� said Bopanna, giving credit to Sania for keeping him relaxed.
Earlier, the Indians had suffered first round defeats in both men�s and women�s doubles in Rio Olympics. � PTI
