Sania bows out, Lee-Hesh win

Thursday proved to be a mixed day for the Indians competing at the Roland Garros.

While Sania Mirza failed to break the second-round French Open jinx, Somdev Devvarman’s campaign on the red clay came to an end. However, on the brighter side, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi overcame a tough battle to enter the second round, while Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi hardly had to break sweat on way to dismantling their opponents.

Sania was shown the door by Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in a little over an hour. The 24-year-old Indian lost 2-6, 4-6 after committing 42 unforced errors as compared to her opponent’s 18. Sania was simply outplayed by the 12th seed.

Having bowed out of the singles, Somdev’s doubles outing came to a screeching halt after he and Yen-Hsun Lu crashed out 3-6, 2-6 in the first round. Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Feliciano Lopez proved to be more proficient on clay as they took apart the Indo-Taiwanese pair in exactly 61 minutes.

Even before the Grand Slam began, it was understood that doubles would be India’s sole hope. It proved to be true as the fifth-seeded pair of Bopanna and Pakistan’s Qureshi thrashed Andreas Seppi and Simone Vagnozzi, their Italian opponents, 6-3, 6-2.

It was, however, a tough outing for Paes and Bhupathi. The third seeds needed 96 minutes to defeat Germans Tommy Haas and Philipp Petzschner 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and book their berth in the next round.