Commonwealth Games 2010 Update : Sania Mirza and Somdev in quarters

Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman had an easy outing in the second round of the singles on Wednesday as they beat lesser-known opponents to proceed to the quarter finals. But there was bad news for the Indian fans as Rohan Bopanna lost to Australian Peter Luczak.

Sania Mirza, who got a bye in the first round, defeated Cook Islands’ Brittany Teei 6-0, 6-2. Sania went for the kill from the start itself. Her dominance could be gauged from the first set, which she won in just 20 minutes after breaking Brittany’s first two serves. Sania was exceptionally impressive with her forehands.

In the second set, too, Sania took a 4-0 lead. The set looked poised for the same scoreline as the first but Brittany tried to make a comeback. She took away two games back to back with brilliant back hands and close net play. But Sania lapped up the next two games to ensure that things don’t go otherwise.

“I am very happy to win this match as this was my first singles match after quite a time in India,” Sania said. “But I need to be focused as anything can happen in tennis. Like in the second set I lost my concentration for a moment and gifted a couple of games to my opponent.” Sania said a wrist injury that had been her constant worry was “no problem and that it was “holding up” well.

Later in the day, she paired up with Rushmi Chakravarthi to proceed to the women’s doubles semi-final by defeating Scotland’s Mhairi Brown and Jocelyn Rae 6-1, 7-6. Rushmi, in turn, won her singles match, too, against third seed Katie O’Brien of England 1-6, 7-6, 7-5.

In the men’s singles, Somdev Devvarman made a short work of his Sri Lankan opponent Amresh Jayawickreme by wrapping up the match in less than an hour with a score of 6-0, 6-1. In his first-round match, Somdev stumbled a bit initially, but on Wednesday it seemed he was out to prove his mettle.

Devvarman’s fast moves smothered Jayawickreme’s challenge. The Sri Lankan could do nothing as Somdev raced to win the first set in 19 minutes.

It never really looked like Wickreme could make a comeback but that it was “ holding up” well.

Later in the day, she paired up with Rushmi Chakravarthi to proceed to the women’s doubles semi- final by defeating Scotland’s Mhairi Brown and Jocelyn Rae 6- 1, 7- 6. Rushmi, in turn, won her singles match, too, against third seed Katie O’Brien of England 1- 6, 7- 6, 7- 5.

In the men’s singles, Somdev Devvarman made a short work of his Sri Lankan opponent Amresh Jayawickreme by wrapping up the match in less than an hour with a score of 6- 0, 6- 1.

In his first- round match, Somdev stumbled a bit initially, but on Wednesday it seemed he was out to prove his mettle.

Devvarman’s fast moves smothered Jayawickreme’s challenge. The Sri Lankan could do nothing as Somdev raced to win the first set in 19 minutes.

It never really looked like Wickreme could make a comeback but he clinched the first game of the second set. But again, Somdev proved too good for the Lankan as he grabbed the next six games to take the set 6- 1.

“ I think I played better tennis than yesterday but still there are more matches and I need to keep up the form,” Somdev said after the match.

In the third match of the day, Rohan Bopanna, whose Davis cup win had raised expectations, went down to Peter Luczak 2- 6, 6- 7( 5). In the last match of the day, though, Bopanna and Somdev beat Scotland’s Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming 6- 3, 6- 1 to enter the men’s doubles quarter finals.

In the other women’s singles match, Poojashree Venkatesh was beaten by Heather Watson of Guernsey 7- 6, 6- 3.