India’s Divij Sharan and his New Zealand partner Artem Sitak progressed to the second round of the men’s doubles event but Rohan Bopanna was knocked out of the Australian Open here on Wednesday.
Sharan and Sitak got the better of the Portuguese-Spanish duo of Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa 6-4, 7-5 in a thrilling one hour, 28 minutes encounter.
The pair will next face the winner of the first-round match between 10th seeds Mate Pavic-Bruno Soares and Ben Molachlan-Luke Bambridge.
Partnering Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan, Bopanna went down to USA’s Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, 1-6, 6-3, 3-6 in a hard-fought one hour, 17 minutes contest.
Meanwhile on Wednesday Sania Mirza pulled out of the mixed doubles due to a calf injury. She was supposed to partner compatriot Rohan Bopanna.
Mirza will, however, play in the women’s doubles event.
Sania, who won the doubles title in Hobart International, will team up with Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine for the Australia Open today.
The duo will face Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu in their women’s doubles first round clash.
“It’s unfortunate that this niggling injury got aggravated in the Hobart final just as I was getting to the top of my game. It is a lot better now and I intend to give it my best shot in doubles. It’s disappointing to miss out on the chance to partner Rohan in mixed,” Mirza was quoted as saying by the Times of India.