If you’re looking at Indian prospects in this year’s US Open, you may want to linger on the mixed doubles. In what has become a delightful scenario, it will actually be quite an upset if no Indian makes the final in that event.
The top seeds are Sania Mirza and her partner from Brazil, Bruno Soares. The second seeds are Rohan Bopanna and his partner, Taiwan’s Yung-Jan Chan. But the favourites might be the fourth seeds, Wimbledon champions Leander Paes and Martina Hingis. If they can sustain the veterans’ magic they showed in England two months ago, they could well be the ones to lift the trophy.
Hingis and Paes were one of the first teams to reach the second round with an easy victory over their first round opponents Claire Liu and Taylor Harry. The mixed doubles event is the shortest of all the main events, with only five rounds. This might make it slightly easier for 42-year-old Paes.
Ageless Paes aims for another title
He will have a lot of work to do, however, since he’s also playing the men’s doubles. Paes, who has now paired up with over a hundred different partners, is playing the US Open with Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. Having lost in the singles in the second round, Verdasco could feel more invested in the doubles. But it’s a lot to expect this brand new pairing to go very far. In the second round, they will face Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, who scored a shocking upset victory over the Bryan brothers in the first round.That’s going to be a tough hurdle for the new Indian/Spanish duo to get past.
On the other hand, Bopanna is continuing to play with his Romanian partner Florin Mergea with whom he’s been having some success. They have played quite consistently of late, reaching the semis in Washington, D.C. and the quarterfinals at Cincinnati, in the lead up to the Open, and could do well here. Seeded sixth, they won their first round match against Americans Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe in straight sets and hopefully will build on their performances so far.
Hingis-Sania duo are firm favourites
However, the women’s doubles is likely to prove a safer bet. Wimbledon champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza are top seeds and firm favourites at the Open. It’s true that upsets are more common in doubles, with seedings often proving to be less reliable than in the singles. Still, Hingis and Mirza are going to enjoy a lot of support from the New York crowd which should also help them win their second Grand Slam title together.
While it’s too early to predict exactly what will happen, it’s obvious that there’s going to be a lot of action for Indian fans to follow in the doubles. Here’s the schedule for the finals in each doubles event:
Mixed doubles final: Friday, September 11
Men’s doubles final: Saturday, September 12
Women’s doubles final: Sunday, September 13
The top seeds are Sania Mirza and her partner from Brazil, Bruno Soares. The second seeds are Rohan Bopanna and his partner, Taiwan’s Yung-Jan Chan. But the favourites might be the fourth seeds, Wimbledon champions Leander Paes and Martina Hingis. If they can sustain the veterans’ magic they showed in England two months ago, they could well be the ones to lift the trophy.
Hingis and Paes were one of the first teams to reach the second round with an easy victory over their first round opponents Claire Liu and Taylor Harry. The mixed doubles event is the shortest of all the main events, with only five rounds. This might make it slightly easier for 42-year-old Paes.
Ageless Paes aims for another title
He will have a lot of work to do, however, since he’s also playing the men’s doubles. Paes, who has now paired up with over a hundred different partners, is playing the US Open with Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. Having lost in the singles in the second round, Verdasco could feel more invested in the doubles. But it’s a lot to expect this brand new pairing to go very far. In the second round, they will face Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, who scored a shocking upset victory over the Bryan brothers in the first round.That’s going to be a tough hurdle for the new Indian/Spanish duo to get past.
On the other hand, Bopanna is continuing to play with his Romanian partner Florin Mergea with whom he’s been having some success. They have played quite consistently of late, reaching the semis in Washington, D.C. and the quarterfinals at Cincinnati, in the lead up to the Open, and could do well here. Seeded sixth, they won their first round match against Americans Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe in straight sets and hopefully will build on their performances so far.
Hingis-Sania duo are firm favourites
However, the women’s doubles is likely to prove a safer bet. Wimbledon champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza are top seeds and firm favourites at the Open. It’s true that upsets are more common in doubles, with seedings often proving to be less reliable than in the singles. Still, Hingis and Mirza are going to enjoy a lot of support from the New York crowd which should also help them win their second Grand Slam title together.
While it’s too early to predict exactly what will happen, it’s obvious that there’s going to be a lot of action for Indian fans to follow in the doubles. Here’s the schedule for the finals in each doubles event:
Mixed doubles final: Friday, September 11
Men’s doubles final: Saturday, September 12
Women’s doubles final: Sunday, September 13
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