India's leading players scored a rare treble success on Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California - one of tennis' most prestigious events outside of the Grand Slams.
India's top-ranked woman, Sania Mirza, was on court for only 14 minutes when her opponent, Italy's Romina Oprandi, ranked 83 on the WTA list, had to retire with an injury. Mirza will most likely return to the top 100 when the next rankings are released following her win and she will meet 25th seed Domnika Cibulkova in the second round on Friday.
India's top men's player, Somdev Devvarman, currently ranked #84, beat Australian Greg Jones 6-2, 6-4 to qualify for the main draw. Devvarman, who upset Janko Tipsarevic in the Davis Cup on Friday, now takes on 22 year old Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, ranked #59 on the ATP list on Thursday. The two have played once before in the qualifying draw at the French Open in 2010 with Devvarman winning that one 6-4, 6-1. The winner of that match will take on 19th seed Marco Baghdatis in the second round.
The biggest surprise for the Indians came when 31 year old Rohan Bopanna, a doubles specialist who rarely plays singles and is ranked 629 in singles, upset world no. 80 Daniel Brands 7-6, 7-6 to qualify for his first ever Masters series in singles. This is the first time ever that 2 Indians are competing in the main draw of an ATP Masters series event. Bopanna will fancy his chances in the first round as he takes on wild card Aussie tennager Bernard Tomic, especially if his serve is on song. A win there will se up a rematch of Friday's Davis Cup encounter against Victor Toicki, which Troicki won in 5 tough sets.
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