Cincinnati Masters: Sania Mirza progresses to pre-quarters, Rohan Bopanna loses opener

Refreshed after a great grass court campaign at Wimbledon, veteran Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is back on the hard court swing for one final time in the lead-up to her final Slam, the US Open, Mirza, along with Czech partner Lucie Hradecka and began her outing at the Cincinnati Masters on a winning note.

Competing in the first round of the women's doubles at the Masters event, the duo of Sania Mirza and Lucie Hradecka had to dig deep to stage a great comeback and win the clash and progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Taking on Petra Martić and Caroline Garcia, Sania Mirza and Lucie Hradecka were in a shifty form in the opening set where they were served a breadstick at 1-6, before the Indo-Czech pair turned the heat up and won the match in a thriller three-setter, 1-6, 6-3, 11-9 to enter the Round of 16.

Into the pre-quarters, Mirza and Hradecka will take on the seventh-seeded pair of Jeļena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok, who will be tricky to beat as they are quite seasoned.

Coming into the tournament, Mirza and first-time partner Madison Keys had a brilliant outing at the Canadian Open where they made a dash to the semi-finals before losing to eventual champions Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the event.

On the other hand, Rohan Bopanna and partner Matwé Middelkoop failed to progress at the Cincinnati Masters and lost to the duo of Denis Shapovalov (who usually pairs with Bopanna) and Karen Khachanov, losing an intense encounter, 7-6, 6-7, 10-6, in a closely-contested first-round meeting.

Only last month, Bopanna notched a great run when he finished runners-up at the German Open, alongside Middelkoop but after that Bopanna is yet to return to finals and stake his claim on titles.