New Delhi, Oct 4 : India were off to a perfect start in the tennis event of Commonwealth Games with Rohan Bopanna demolishing Robert Buyinza of Uganda in straight sets in the men’s singles event here on Monday.
Bopanna was too good for a player, who has just one ranking point in the ATP charts, as he completed a 6 -- 1 6 -- 4 win in just one hour and two minutes in the first round.
Bopanna is scheduled to play a second match today when he pairs up with Nirupama Sanjeev against top seeded Australians Paul Hanley and Rodionova Anastasia.
He today dropped 114 places in the ranking chart to be at 587 but he was coming into the event after playing a crucial role in the Davis Cup tie against Brazil and was hardly troubled by the African player.
With two break of serves, Bopanna raced to a comfortable 5-1 lead in the opening set and sealed the lead in just 21 minutes.
Buyinza, ranked 1601, overcame the initial jitters and started to serve well in the second set but unforced errors continued to flow from his racquet.
After missing four break points, Bopanna converted the fifth to get his first break -- in the fifth game -- to be up 3-2 in the second set.
He had a chance to close the set in the ninth game but Buyinza played his best tennis to save that point. However, he could not stop the Indian from serving out the match in the next game.
But there was hardly any crowd to celebrate Bopanna's win at the Centre Court.
India's Poojashree Venkatesh, Rushmi Chakravarthy and the mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Leander Paes are also scheduled to play later in the day.
Source: PTI
Indian women paddlers beat Sri Lanka 3-0
Indian women paddlers started their campaign in the Commonwealth Games on a resounding note by blanking Sri Lanka 3-0 in Group D team competition at the Yamuna Sports complex today. Mouma Das started the host country''s domination as she thrashed Ishara Madurangi Darshika 11-4 11-5 11-4 before Shamini Kumareshan put India 2-0 in front by outclassing Nuwani Navodya 11-9 11-9 11-7.
Reigning national champion Poulomi Ghatak sealed the issue by getting the better of Kavindi Rukmali 11-8 11-8 11-7. The Indian eves, seeded second, have New Zealand and Ghana as their other opponents in the group and are set to take on the Kiwis, who are capable of putting up a better show than the Lankans, later in the day.
A total of 21 medals, including seven gold medals, are up for grabs in table tennis. Meranwhile, Australian women paddlers also started on a great note by beating Wales 3-0.
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