India had a fruitful Day 4 at the US Open 2015, as Sania Mirza and her partner Martina Hingis progressed into the second round of the women's doubles competition, while Leaner Paes, with his new partner Fernando Verdasco, also reached the men's doubles second round.
The pairing of Sania and Hingis did not have to even break a sweat against their American opponents, Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria, winning the match 6-1, 6-2 in a matter of just 56 minutes. The Indo-Swiss pair looked in supreme control, as they were very comfortable at the net as well as the back of the court.
Sania and Hingis are favourites to clinch back-to-back Grand Slam titles this season, after winning Wimbledon in June, which was their first major victory, after they decided to join hands earlier in the year. Apart from Wimbledon, they also won the Indian Wells and Miami Open earlier in the year.
After their thumping win in the first round, Sania and Hingis will face another unseeded pair of Timea Bacsinszky from Switzerland and Chia-Jung Chuang from Chinese Taipei, who defeated the US pairing of Melanie Oudin and Jessica Pequla following some pulsating tennis with the score reading 6-4, 7-5.
In the men's doubles, Paes looked at his fluent best with some characteristic reflexes at the net as his counterpart Verdasco also played his part in the first round match to defeat the German pairing of Florian Mayer and Frank Moser 6-2 and 6-3.
With Verdasco knocked out of the singles in the first round, it could be a blessing in disguise for Paes as the Spaniard can focus on his doubles matches at the US Open. The right and left-hand combination could come in handy for the Indo-Spaniard pair as well.
Tennis lovers were relishing a huge possible encounter between Paes-Verdasco and top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan in the next round, but the Bryan brothers suffered a shock defeat at the hands of another American pair, Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey, who won the match in three sets. The score read 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.
With the exit of the Bryan Brothers, who have dominated the US Open like no other, winning five of the last 10 titles, the field has been thrown wide open. It was in the 2011 US Open that the Bryan Brothers were last ousted from the competition in the first round.
Can the Indo-Spaniard pair take advantage of their exit and go all the way?
