- In her first Grand Slam in 2 years, Sania Mirza has pulled out of the mixed doubles draw due to a calf injury.
- She will compete in the women’s doubles event with Nadiia Kichenok with who she had won the Hobart International on Saturday.
- With Sania pulling out, Rohan Bopanna has partnered with Nadiia Kichenok.
Sania Mirza’s comeback to the tennis circuit after two long years has taken a hit with an injury forcing her to pull out of the mixed doubles draw of the ongoing Australian Open.
Sania had announced she would be playing the Aus Open with Rohan Bopanna after her partner Rajeev Ram had been forced to withdraw due to an injury as well.
Sania is suffering from a calf strain but will however compete in the women's doubles event.
Sania and Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine had on Saturday won the Hobart International, with the new mother playing her first tournament since the birth of her son Izhaan in 2018.
The duo will now face the Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu in their women's doubles first round clash.
"It's unfortunate that this niggling injury got aggravated in the Hobart final just as I was getting to the top of my game. It is a lot better now and I intend to give it my best shot in doubles. It's disappointing to miss out on the chance to partner Rohan in mixed," Mirza was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
Rohan Switches Partners
With Sania pulling out, Rohan Bopanna will be playing the mixed doubles event with her women’s doubles partner Nadiia Kichenok. Their campaign will start later this week.
On Wednesday though, Rohan Bopanna and Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan went down to Bob and Mike Bryan 1-6, 6-3, 3-6 in a hard-fought one hour, 17 minutes contest.
Divij Sharan and his New Zealand partner Artem Sitak progressed to the second round of the men's doubles event after beating the Portuguese-Spanish duo of Pablo Carreno Busta and Joao Sousa 6-4 7-5 in a one hour, 28 minutes encounter.
The pair will next face the winner of the first-round match between 10th seeds Mate Pavic-Bruno Soares and Ben Molachlan-Luke Bambridge.
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