It was a historic occasion of sorts as fours Indians took to the court in Wimbledon on Friday. For the first time in the open era, we had an all-Indian battle in a doubles Grand Slam match.
Mixed Doubles
Ramkumar Ramanathan, who narrowly lost in the final singles qualifier match made his Grand Slam debut partnering Ankita Raina. It was Ankita’s debut in Mixed Doubles as well. Ramkumar/Ankita entered the draw replacing Hungarian pair Fucsovics & Babos
Mirza and Bopanna beat a spirited Ramkumar & Ankita to move into the second round of mixed doubles.
All images in the article credited to Wimbledon
In another front, Divij Sharan and his wife Samantha Murray-Sharan also entered the draw as alternatives and got the chance to play together on court for the first time. It was another rare and special sight to see a husband and wife playing together in the draw. Divij and Samantha notched up a 3-set win over Behar and Voskoboeva, making this Divij’s maiden Mixed Doubles win and Samantha’s first win at a Grand Slam main draw.
[R1] 🇮🇳Sania Mirza / 🇮🇳Rohan Bopanna bt 🇮🇳 Ankita Raina/ 🇮🇳Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-2 7-6(5)
[R1] Divij Sharan / 🇬🇧 Samantha Murray-Sharan bt 🇺🇾 Behar / 🇰🇿 Voskoboeva 6-3 5-7 6-4
Women’s Doubles
Sania Mirza returned to Wimbledon after a gap of 4 years. Pairing up with her long time friend Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the duo got sharp as the match progressed and ousted the 6th seeds to move in the second round.
Making her debut at Wimbledon, Ankita Raina paired up with Lauren Davis but went down to 14th seeded American duo Muhammad/Pegula.
[R1] 🇮🇳 Mirza /🇺🇸 Mattek-Sands bt 🇨🇱 Guarachi / 🇺🇸 Krawczyk 7-5 6-3
[R1] 🇮🇳 Raina /🇺🇸 Davis l. 🇺🇸Muhammad/🇺🇸Pegula 3-6 2-6
Men’s Doubles
Facing a tough pair in the first round, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan went down to the 11th seeded 🇫🇷Edouard Roger-Vasselin and 🇫🇮Henri Kontinen 6-7(6), 4-6.
