Somdev Devvarman gave a mighty scare to world No. 26 Jerzy Janowicz before fizzling out while Sania Mirza and her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffered a shock first round exit in a mixed day for the Indians at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Somdev was well on course to record his best performance at the Grand Slams but frittered away a two-set lead to go down 7-6(10), 6-3, 1-6, 0-6, 5-7 against his Polish rival.
In the women’s doubles Sania and Bethanie were ousted by unseeded Spanish team of Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez Navarro.
The 10th seed Indo-American team bowed out with a 6-7(4), 3-6 defeat in their opening round of the women’s doubles.
Sania will now compete in the mixed doubles with new partner Bob Bryan.
However, there was something to cheer for India in the men’s doubles as Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhuapthi advanced to the second round with their respective partners.
Bopanna and American Rajeev Ram defeated Australian pair of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-4 in their first round.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Canadian Daniel Nestor ousted the Spanish pair of Pablo Andujar and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-4 in their first round match.
