London, July 31 (IANS) India’s Leander Paes and Sania Mirza Tuesday were drawn against Serbian team of Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic in the first round of the mixed doubles tennis competition at the London Olympics.
The Indian team will have their work cut out when they take on Ivanovic, former women’s singles world no.1 and Zimonjic, who has won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and three men’s doubles titles. Zimonjic is also a former doubles partner of Paes.
Sania, who has been more prolific with Mahesh Bhupathi winning the 2009 Australian and 2012 French Open titles, was paired with Paes after much controversy in the Indian tennis circuit.
Paes has also paired up with young Vishnu Vardhan in the men’s doubles but their match against Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the second round was postponed.
Sania and her partner Rushmi Chakravarthi have been knocked of the women’s doubles in the first round.
