The fourth seeded Indian pair took a little time to settle down but once they got the rhythm, there was hardly any looking back.
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Taking aim amid heavy rain, Atanu went down 4-6 to World No.8 Lee Seung-Yun, who had already helped South Korea win the team gold at the event, by losing two sets and winning one while the rest two ended in ties.
Now, Sania and Bopanna are left with the last chance in the broze medal match-up, to give India its first medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
But before it went out of their hand, the Indians capitalised on an unforced error from their rival to take four straight points and break Stosur’s service and wrap up the first set in 36 minutes. “We have to move on”, a visibly shaken Sania said. The bronze was a welcome medal Hradecka, who missed out in the women’s doubles this time after having won silver in the last edition with Andrea Hlavackova.
Sania-Bopanna had lost the semi-final clash to Americans Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram 6-2, 2-6, 3-10 on Saturday. Without the windy conditions that made the ball swirl unpredictably in their first match, Sania and Bopanna were a lot more assured on court.
India enters quarterfinals at Rio Olympic Games.
The Indians were totally outplayed in the first set as they found it hard to cope up with the Czech attack, getting broken twice to surrender it 1-6.
A nervous Lucie served a double fault but Stepanek supported her with his tremendous presence of mind.
The fifth game of the second set proved to be decisive, with Sania ripping a forehand to earn a break point on Murray’s serve and the Indians going on to convert it.
However, the Indians immediately got the break back as Watosn dropped serve at love.
In badminton, the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost to China’s Chai Biao and Hong Wei in the second match of Group D 13-21 15-21 in a 35-minute battle. Sharma committed consecutive fouls in his first two attempts before recording a jump of 7.67 m, which placed him at 24th spot.
Puig said she was happy with the way she kept improving with every match.
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“Sometimes you put your best foot forward and it still hits you hard”. I started getting more powerful.
