By IANS,
London : India’s challenge in Wimbledon mixed doubles event collapsed in the second round with all four in the fray crashing out of the event.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza lost to the unseeded Russian pair of Igor Andreev and Maria Kirilenko 6-7 (4), 3-6 without putting up much of a fight. Leander Paes and Australian Rennae Stubbs, seeded 10th, squandered three break points in the decider to go down 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 to Swede Jonas Bjorkman and Australian Alicia Molik.
Rohan Bopanna and his Belarussian partner Tatiana Poutchek went down 3-6, 6-7 (1) to 13th seeded Swede-American pair of Simon Aspelin and Lisa Raymond in the first of the three mixed doubles matches for India Saturday.
Bhupathi, who has six mixed doubles Grand Slams titles including two at hallowed All England Club, finished his Wimbledon campaign on a sour note, having already exited in men’s doubles in the first round.
Bhupathi and Sania, seeded 11th, fought well in the first set to take it into tie breaker but their poor first service let them down. The Indians failed to earn a single break point in the entire match while their opponents converted the only break point they achieved in the second set.
For Paes and Stubbs, it was a case of missed opportunities in the decider. They converted one break point in the second set to draw level but wasted three chances in the third set. Bjorkman and Molik on the other hand earned two break points and cashed on one to reach the third round.
India’s chances in Wimbledon now rest upon Paes in men’s doubles and Sania in women’s doubles –both having made it to the third round.
Paes and Lukas Dlouhy of Czech Republic will take on Travis Parrott of the US and Filip Polasek of Slovakia while Sania and her American partner Bethanie Mattek will take on Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan and Darya Kustova of Belarus.
Sania and Mattek entered the third round after a 6-3 6-4 win over Kirilenko and Italian Flavia Pennetta.
In the junior section, fifth seed Yuki Bhambri lost 6-7 (2) 4-6 to unseeded American Ty D Trombetta in the first round.