Bopanna, Mirza face defeat in first round of Australian Open 2022

Sania Mirza announced after her match that she would be retiring at the end of the 2022 season.

It was a disappointing outing for Indians on Wednesday at the Australian Open. Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza were knocked out of the men’s and women’s doubles events of the competition respectively, after losing in their first round matches.

Sania Mirza and her partner Nadiia Kicheno lost in straight sets to the pair of Tamara Zidansek and Kaju Juvan. Kichenok was not at her best, as unforced errors kept coming from her racquet throughout the match. They lost with a score of 4-6, 6-7.

Bopanna and his partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin lost in three sets to the pair of Christopher Rungkat and Treat Huey. The start seemed to be confident and promising, but they lost the momentum to lose 6-3, 6-7, 2-6.

However, the two Indian stars are still alive in the tournament. They will compete in the mixed doubles category. Bopanna has teamed up with Croatia's Darija Jurak Schreiber, while Sania will be playing with American Rajeev Ram.

After her match, Sania Mirza, who has brought glory to the nation in tennis and is an inspiration for many Indians to pursue the sport, announced her retirement at the end of the 2022 tennis season.

Mannarino ends it for Hubert

26th seed Adrian Mannarino sprung an upset when he defeated world no. 10 Hubert Hurkacz. He was in the match right from the start and ended up winning 6-4,6-2,6-3 within two hours. This was the Frenchman's first top Grand Slam win against a top-20 ranked opponent since 2017.

Karatsev’s Fight Back

After his exhausting battle in the first round against Jaume Munar for five hours, it was a question of how fit Aslan Karatsev would be for this match. But, he continued his momentum on Day 3 at the Australian Open.

Karatsev dominated this match to defeat the American player Mackenzie McDonald. After going down in the first set, the Russian won the match 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. He will go on to face Adrian Mannarino in the next round.

Upsets in women's singles

The biggest upset was Belinda Bencic losing to Amanda Anisimova in straight sets. Amanda beat Belinda 6-2, 7-5 to oust her out of the competition. Even after converting all her break points, Belinda’s efforts were not enough to win. Amanda won the match even after she managed to convert only five out of her 13 opportunities from break points.

Sara Sorribes Tormo also had to accept defeat at the hands of Marta Kostyuk. It just wasn't her day for Sara. Despite converting all her break points, she couldn't manage to take the lead and dominate the match. This is one of the biggest breakthroughs for Marta and she will be high on confidence in the third round.

Stars comfortably move forward

Australian ace player and world No.1, Ashleigh Barty comfortably defeated Lucia Bronzetti, 6-1, 6-1. She now moves ahead as one of the favorites to win the competition.

Rafael Nadal defeated Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. He is looking to clinch his first Australian Open title since 2009.

Another favorite to win the competition, Alexander Zverev went through to the next round with a quick win, defeating Australia’s John Millmann, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in just under two hours.

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