On a largely disappointing day for Indian tennis players, leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza lost their respective doubles matches in the second round of the Australian Open leaving the country's challenge restricted to the mixed doubles competition. Sania, who recently reached her career best doubles ranking of No.5 for the second time, and her Chinese Taipei partner Su-Wei Hsieh were stunned by the unseeded Canadian-Polish pair of Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska 6-7, 4-6.
Sania though restored some pride in the mixed doubles event, when she combined with Bruno Soares of Brazil, and the top-seeded pair dispatched Timea Babos and Eric Butorac in double quick time 6-1, 4-6. Bopanna and Daniel Nestor were outplayed in their second-round men's doubles match by Feliciano lopez and Max Mirnyi 5-7, 3-6. Paes, along with South African partner Raven Klaasen, went down to Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-2, 4-6, 1-6.
Sania and Hsieh finally went down fighting in tie break after an intense 58-minute battle. Their inexperienced opponents then gained confidence in the second to comfortably win in the end. In the mixed doubles draw, Bhupathi has paired with Jarmila Gajdosova, Bopanna with B Zahlavova Strycova and Paes is set to partner former Australian Open winner Martina Hingis.