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Rohan Bopanna and Zhang Shuai advance to second round of Australian Open 2025 mixed doubles

Rohan Bopanna and Zhang Shuai cruised into the second round of the 2025 Australian Open mixed doubles competition with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory over French tennis player Kristina Mladenovic and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig on Friday at Melbourne Park.

The Indo-Chinese pair came out strong, breaking their opponents twice to build a 3-0 lead in the opening set. While Mladenovic and Dodig mounted a comeback with a break of their own, Bopanna and Zhang held their serve consistently and closed out the first set in dominant fashion.

Rohan Bopanna and Zhang Shuai Advance to Second Round; Image Source: Australian Open 2025

In the second set, both teams struggled to hold serve, with neither pair securing a game in the opening four games. However, Bopanna and Zhang gained the upper hand by breaking Mladenovic in the seventh game, pushing them closer to victory. Bopanna, who had previously reached the mixed doubles semi-finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Sania Mirza, served out the final game of the match to seal their place in the next round.

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Bopanna’s impressive career in mixed doubles continued, having reached the Australian Open final in 2023 alongside Mirza. The Indian tennis star is also competing in the men’s doubles event at this year’s tournament with Colombian partner Nicolas Barrientos, although they were defeated by Spain’s Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar in the opening round.

In other Indian doubles news, N. Sriram Balaji and his Mexican partner Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela will take to the court on Saturday in their second-round men’s doubles match against the Portuguese pair of Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral. The duo triumphed over Netherlands’ Robin Haase and Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan in their first-round clash on Thursday.

Rohan Bopanna and Zhang Shuai Advance to Second Round; Image Source: Australian Open 2025

Meanwhile, India’s singles campaign at the Australian Open ended after Sumit Nagal was defeated by Czechia’s Tomas Machac in the first round.

With Bopanna and Zhang Shuai’s dominant performance, India remains hopeful of strong results in the doubles events as the Australian Open continues.

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