Australian Open: Sania, Bopanna move up

MELBOURNE: Zeel Desai advanced to the girls' singles second round after negotiating a tough opening challenge in her maiden appearance but Siddhanth Banthia ended on the wrong side of a three-setter at the Australian Open here on Saturday.

Zeel, 17, overcame home favourite Kaitlin Staines 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 while the 16-year-old Siddhanth went down to local lad Alexander Crnokrak 2-6, 6-7 (3), 5-7 after being a mini-break up in the tie-breaker and a break up in the decider.

Ranked 43 in the juniors, Zeel will next play either Germany's Julie Niemier who ousted ninth seed Japan's Ayumi Miyamoto 7-6 (5), 4-6, 8-6 in three hours and six minutes. Siddhanth, ranked 67, will now focus on the boys' doubles where he has been paired with Turkey's Kaya Gore.

Among the pros, both Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza advanced to the second round with their respective partners in mixed doubles. Bopanna and Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski survived some anxious moments before prevailing over Slovenia's Katernia Srebotnik and Michael Venus of New Zealand 6-4, 6-7 (5), 10-7.

Mirza and Croatian Ivan Dodig overcame some initial hiccups to see off Germany's Laura Siegemund and Mate Pavic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4.