Australian Open: Bopanna, Zhang advance into mixed doubles round two

Indian ace Rohan Bopanna and partner Shuai Zhang dominate Australian Open mixed doubles with clinical victory.

Indian ace Rohan Bopanna and his Chinese partner Shuai Zhang advanced to the second round of the Australian Open mixed doubles with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ivan Dodig and Kristina Mladenovic in Melbourne on Friday (January 17, 2025).

Aiming to recover from an early exit in the men’s doubles, the former world No. 1 Indian showed his mettle alongside Zhang, delivering a clinical performance to close our the match in one hour and 12 minutes.

Bopanna and Zhang will face the winners of the match between fourth seeded pair of American Taylor Townsend and Hugo Nys of Monegasque and wild card Australian duo of Maddison Inglis and Jason Kuber in the pre-quarterfinals.

The Indo-Chinese pair started strong, racing to a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Though Croatian Dodig and Frenchwoman Mladenovic broke Zhang’s serve to narrow the gap to 3-2, Bopanna held firm under pressure, serving out the set at 6-4.

The second set began with both pairs exchanging breaks in a tight contest.

At 3-4 down, the Indo-Chinese duo capitalised on Dodig and Mladenovic’s errors, including two costly double faults, to break serve and level the score. They held their nerve to win the next two games, with Zhang and Bopanna complementing each other with steady serve and sharp forehand display.

While Dodig and Mladenovic created 17 break points throughout the match, their failure to convert key opportunities proved costly for them.