Australia Open: Rohan Bopanna-Zhang Shuai Advance Into Second Round Of Mixed Doubles

January 17, 2025: The mixed doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Zhang Shuai continued their strong performance at the Australian Open 2025, advancing to the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kristina Mladenovic of France and Ivan Dodig of Croatia in the opening round.

Competing on the hard courts of Melbourne Park, Bopanna and Zhang quickly gained control, breaking their opponents twice to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the first set. Though Mladenovic and Dodig fought back with a break of their own, the Indo-Chinese duo held strong on serve to close out the first set.

The second set saw a series of early breaks, but Bopanna and Zhang regained their composure, breaking Mladenovic’s serve in the seventh game. Bopanna served out the final game to seal the victory, securing their spot in the next round.

Bopanna, who has had a successful mixed doubles career, previously reached the semi-finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Sania Mirza and the final at the 2023 Australian Open with her as well. He is also participating in the men’s doubles at this year’s tournament alongside Colombian Nicolas Barrientos, although they were defeated in the opening round by Spain’s Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar.

In other doubles action, India’s N. Sriram Balaji and Mexico’s Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela will compete against the Portuguese pair of Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral on Saturday. They progressed to the second round after defeating Robin Haase (Netherlands) and Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kazakhstan) in the first round.

India’s Sumit Nagal saw his singles campaign end after a first-round loss to Czechia’s Tomas Machac.