Leander Paes’ last Australian Open outing comes to an end

Rohan Bopanna keeps Indian challenge alive

Veteran Leander Paes’ last Australian Open outing came to an end after he and partner Jelena Ostapenko were knocked out of the Mixed Doubles competition, going down in straight sets to Jamie Murray and Bethanie Mattek-Sands here on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old Paes and Latvia’s Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, lost to the British-American pair 2-6 5-7 in a second-round match that lasted one-hour-and-seven minutes.

Paes had earlier announced that 2020 would be his final year on the Pro circuit.

Rohan Bopanna is the only Indian left in the fray now. The 39-year-old and Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine will take on fifth seed Nikola Mektic and Barbora Krejcikova in the Mixed Doubles quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Djokovic Vs Federer

Novak Djokovic beats Milos Raonic to make it to yet another semi-final where he will face Roger Federer. The Djokovic Vs Federer semi-final clash is scheduled for Wednesday. Djokovic beat Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).

The Swiss ace was pushed to the brink by the American Tennys Sandgren. On another day Sandgren would have been home and dry but Federer saved 7 match points to finally come out victorious.

Meanwhile, Sofia Kenin and Asheligh Barty sailed through to semifinals and square off against each other on Thursday.

This post was published on January 29, 2020 4:01 pm