Doubles delight: Sania, Bopanna in Round Two

Sania Mirza, Barbora Strycova, Rohan Bopanna

Sania Mirza (left) and Barbora Strycova celebrate their win over Britain's Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith yesterday. Pic/AP/PTI

Melbourne: India's star tennis doubles players, Rohan Bopanna pairing Pable Cuevas of Peru and Sania Mirza pairing with her new partner Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic, advanced to the second round on the third day of the Australian Open. Bopanna and Cuevas won 6-4 and 7-6, while Sania and Strycova too won in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, against Rae and Smith of Britain. Bopanna and Cuevas will now take on Australians Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley, who defeated Robin Haase and Florian Mayer 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Rohan Bopanna

Both Bopanna and Sania will have some problem areas to fix before the next round in a highly competitive doubles schedule.

Bopanna's awesome backhand returns and his serve worked well while his Peruvian partner worked some magic at the net.

The second set went to the tie-break due to some rough hitting by Cuevas but with Bopanna's calm approach they got through in the tie breaker. Their Latin American opponents Belluci of Brazil and Gonsalez of Argentina tried to smother Bopanna's back hand shots but not with much success. Bellucci was a formidable opponent from the baseline but Cuevas met him effectively at the net after some initial hiccups.

Sania said. "We reached four finals out of six tournaments and we are working well together. Strycova is a fighter and she is in great shape."