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Sania Mirza and doubles partner Coco Vandeweghe were knocked out of the ongoing US Open after facing a defeat against Raluca Olaru and Nadiia Kichenok in women's doubles first-round match on Thursday. Sania and Vandeweghe lost the match in three sets to their opponents who were seeded 12th in the competition.
While Sania and her American partner were clinical with their shots in the first set and stitched a 6-4 win in the opening set, Olaru and Kicheno did well to come back and took the second set 6-4. In the deciding set, Sania and Vandeweghe were completely outplayed and went down 3-6 to bow out of the tournament.
However, all is not lost for the Indian tennis ace as the 34-year-old will next be competing in the mixed event category where she will partner with another tennis player from USA- Rajeev Ram. Sania and Rajeev will be up against the team of Kevin Krawietz and Kveta Peschke in their opening match.
All eyes on Novak Djokovic chasing a calendar Grand Slam
Meanwhile, all eyes are on world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the US Open. This is because he has already won the Australian Open, the Roland Garros as well as the Wimbledon and moved close to a calendar Grand Slam on Thursday by dismissing Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the US Open. The Serb failed to bag a medal for his country at the Olympic games but has kept alive his hopes of going past Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's tally of 20 Grand Slam titles. Both Federer and Nadal are not competing in the competition this year.
Djokovic went past Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune of Denmark in the first round and later won againt Gallon Griekspoor 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.
"Great performance. Definitely better than the first-round match," Djokovic said referring to the fact that he had lost a set in the first round.
"Obviously I'm very pleased with the way I came out on the court. I served very well, I found the rhythm on the serve. It was important I came up with the goods," he added.
It wasn't an easy match for Griekspoor considering that this was the first match. While he was up against the top seed in the first match, he was also not sure of participating due to visa issues.