India's Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the second round of doubles with their respective partners at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Mirza and Czech partner Barbora Strycova, the fourth seeds, defeated Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith of the United Kingdom 6-3, 6-1 while Bopanna and new partner Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay recorded a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over the Brazilian/Argentinian pair of Thomaz Bellucci and Maximo Gonzalez.
Mirza and Strycova, runners-up in last week's Sydney International, converted one of their three break points and did not face a single break point in the first set, winning 38 points to 32 for Rae-Smith to take the set.
In the second set, Rae-Smith broke Mirza-Strycova once, but it was the fourth seeds who dominated, winning four out of seven break opportunities to take the set 6-1 and seal the win in one hour.
The men's doubles was relatively more competitive. After both teams held serve in the opening six games of the first set, Bellucci lost his serve in the seventh game. Leading 40-15, the Brazilian-Argentinian duo lost three straight points before saving a break point with a service winner. They couldn't hold serve, however, as consecutive backhand winners handed Bopanna-Cuevas a 4-3 lead.
The Indian-Uruguayan team then held serve twice, sealing the set with a forehand smash winner. They won 34 points to 30 for their opponents and converted one of the three break point chances they had, while not facing a single break point in the set.
In the second set, five consecutive service holds were followed by Bopanna getting his serve broken in the sixth game. Going down 0-40, the Indian threw in a double fault to hand over an easy break. Bellucci-Gonzalez held serve for 5-2 before Bopanna-Cuevas won three games on the trot to bring the set back on level terms. Serving at 5-3, Bellucci threw in a double fault at 15-40 to hand the advantage right back.
In the tiebreak, Bopanna-Cuevas went down 0-2 before winning four straight points and allowing their opponents only two more points to close out the win in one hour, 24 minutes. They won 44 points to their opponents' 39 in the second set.
Mirza and Strycova will next play Samantha Stosur (Australia) and Shuai Zhang (China). Bopanna-Cuevas will face Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley of Australia.