NEW YORK: Mahesh Bhupathi put behind his shock first-round exit from the men’s doubles event by advancing to the mixed doubles second round, while Sania Mirza and her women’s doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands also cleared the first hurdle in the US Open here.
Bhupathi’s successful partnership with Sania in the mixed doubles circuit ended after he “sacrificed” her in the infamous Olympic selection row in July.
The veteran along with his new partner, Andrea Hlavackova of Czech Republic, beat the American combo of Mitchell Krueger and Samantha Crawford last night.
It took the sixth-seeded Indo-Czech pair just 57 minutes to outplay their unseeded opponents 6-2 6-4.
Bhupathi and Hlavackova won a total of 58 points as compared to the 41 won by the Americans.
They will next take on the winners of the match between the American duo of Nicole Melichar and Brian Battistone and Spanish pair of Nuria Llagostera Vives and David Marrero.
The 13th seeded Sania and Bethanie thrashed Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Italy’s Alberta Brianti 6-1 6-1.
They took less than an hour to topple the unseeded Romanian-Italian combination.
Sania-Bethanie got as many as 16 breakpoints, of which they could convert only five but that was enough for them to run away with the match comfortably.-PTI
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