Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and United States’ Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Thursday advanced to the women’s doubles second round in Wimbledon with a straight-sets win. The two defeated Desirae Krawczyk-Alexa Guarachi 7-5, 6-3. The match lasted an hour and 28 minutes on Court 8.

Also read: Roger Federer fails to understand a question, crowd breaks into laughter

Mirza, who last competed at Wimbledon in 2017, claimed her 121st-career win. The pair will next face the winners of the match between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova-Elena Rybakina and Veronika Kudermetova-Elina Vesnina in round 2.

Also read: Roger Federer, Ashleigh Barty seek to polish up their Wimbledon act

The Indo-American pair was put under pressure early in the match when the third game went to seven deuce points. Mattek-Sands served three double faults but eventually held thr game by saving three breakpoints. 

Sania Mirza, 34, will become the first female athlete to represent India four times in the Olympics when she plays in Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics will begin on June 23. 

Also Read: Wimbledon: Andy Murray fights back against Oscar Otte, reaches third round

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev gave a solid performance to beat Tennys Sandgren in straight sets in his second-round match on Thursday.

Another Indian tennis player, Ankita Raina, will be taking on the court with Lauren Davis. This will be the first time that two Indian women players are competing in the main draw of a Grand Slam. Raina, 28, will make her third successive appearance in a Slam. She made her debut at the Australian Open this year.