Sania-Bopanna enter mixed doubles semis

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 13 (IANS) The star Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna entered the semi-finals of the mixed doubles tennis event at the ongoing Rio Olympics by defeating Andy Murray and Heather Watson of Britain in straight sets here.

The Indians won their quarter-final match 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and seven minutes at the Olympic Tennis Centre here on Friday.

The fourth seeded Indian duo dominated their British opponents with both Sania and Bopanna coming with some fine work at the net and excellent returns of serve.

The Indian duo had a shaky start as Murray and Watson broke Sania's serve in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. But Sania and Bopanna replied in kind in the very next game to force a service break of their own.

Sania then saved a break of serve in the third game before Bopanna held his serve with a powerful ace in the sixth game to level the scores at 3-3.

The Indians broke Watson's serve in the next game to take a 4-3 lead, thanks to some excellent returns, including superb returns by Sania at the net.

The Indians then brushed aside a strong fightback by the British duo in the next game as Sania held her serve.

Murray held his serve to reduce Sania-Bopanna's lead to 5-4, but a couple of brilliant aces by Bopanna in the next game handed the opening set to the Indians.

The second set went with the serve until the Indian pair broke Murray's serve to take a 3-2 lead.

Up by 4-2, Sania and Bopanna stretched Watson's serve to 0-30 before the Britons managed to avert another service break.

The Brits tried and staged a desperate fightback as both teams continued to hold their serve.

But the Britons could not rejoice for long. Serving for the match at 5-4, Bopanna produced a couple of booming aces to clinch the game and send the sizeable Indian contingent among the crowd into celebration mode.