French Open: Mirza-Black progress; Bopanna-Qureshi lose

Fifth seeds Sania Mirza and Cara Black cantered into the second round, even as the duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were shown the door in the men's doubles, at the French Open, in Paris, on Thursday.

The Indo-Zimbabwean pair of Mirza-Black began their women's doubles campaign with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Israel's Shahar Peer on Court 11.

They next play the Canadian-Polish combine of Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska.

The disappointing news for Indian fans though was Bopanna and his Pakistani partner’s 3-6, 4-6 defeat to the unseeded pair of Jonathan Erlich and Marcelo Melo.

The Israeli-Brazilian pair put up a clincical show, winning the second round contest in 65 minutes.

Though Bopanna-Qureshi won more than half of their points on first serve, their failure to convert any of the three break-points they had cost them dear.

The 'Indo-Pak Express' has done fairly well since reuniting at the start of 2014, but disappointed in the first two Grand Slams of the year.

They were unable to progress beyond the third round at the Australian Open.

Image: Cara Black and Sania Mirza.

Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images