Bopanna and Sania to open Cincinnati campaigns in doubles

Cincinnati, Aug 16 (IANS) India's Rohan Bopanna and his partner Ivan Dodig of Croatia will open their campaign in the Cincinnati Masters men's doubles draw against the French-Serbian pair of Fabrice Martin and Filip Kranjinovic on Tuesday.The Bopanna-Dodig pair had reached the doubles quarterfinals of the ATP event in Toronto last week before losing to third-seeded Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 4-6, 6-3, [10-4] in the $3,487,915 event.Should Bopanna and Dodig advance in Cincinnati, they will face a stern test against third seed Juan Sebastian Cabal, world No. 9, and Robert Farah, world No. 7, in the second round. The finals will be held on Sunday, August 22.This week, Bopanna-Dodig will be hoping to improve on their performance in Toronto and go all the way to the summit clash.Meanwhile, Sania Mirza too will be in action at the Cincinnati Masters, pairing up with Tunisia's Ons Jabeur in the women's doubles.Sania, the former world No. 1 in doubles, will be competing in her first event after the Tokyo Olympics where she paired with Ankita Raina and lost to Ukraine's Nadiia Kichenok and Lydumyla Kichenok in the opening round.On Tuesday, Sania and Ons will take on Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the opening round.
--IANSbsk/kh