Seventh-seeded Karman Kaur Thandi and Divij Sharan of India defeated the Filipino pair of Marian Jane Capadocia and Alberto Jr Lim in a testing mixed doubles opener here on Sunday.
Playing together for the first time, Kamran and Divij eked out a 6-4, 6-4 win in a round-of-32 match that lasted 81 minutes at the Jakabaring Tennis Center.
The other Indians in the five categories too had a first round bye and they will be on court on Monday.
Captain and coach Zeeshan Ali was glad that Kamran and Divij had a tough opening match. “You don’t want a 6-1, 6-1 result in the first match you are playing. It is good that they had a tough match. It will help them in the coming matches,” Zeeshan said.
The mixed doubles pairings were decided in the last minute following the sudden withdrawal of Leander Paes.
Rohan Bopanna and Ankita Raina are the other Indian pair in the mixed doubles.
Divij also admitted it was a tricky opener. “We broke them at 4-4 in both the sets. It was a tough match and should give us momentum going forward.”