Olympics: Leander-Sania gel well to cruise into last eight

London: All eyes were on the mixed doubles pair of Leander Paes and Sania Mirza when they took on to the Wimbledon courts on Thursday and the Indian duo didn’t disappoint as they defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia to advance into the quarter-finals at London Olympics.

Keeping aside all the differences and controversies that plagued the Indian tennis prior to the Olympics, Mirza and Paes defeated the Serbians 6-2, 6-4 in straight sets in a match that lasted for 64 minutes. Now the duo will take on Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus in quarters, which will be an acid test on their quest for an Olympic medal.

The Indian pair dominated the proceedings from the start as they broke their opponent's serve in the third game, but the Serbians broke back to get scores levelled at 2-2. But Leander-Sania were at their best as the broke Zimonjic and Ivanovic's serve once each in the fifth and the seventh game and closed out the set at 6-2 in just 26 minutes. The Indians got an all-important break in the very first game of the second set and then held their serves to win the match in the 10th game.