Pe'er's Jewish-Muslim partnership with Mirza proves successful
The Israeli/Indian duo, seeded 16th in the event, were in a commanding lead in the second round match when rain suspended play.
peer in wimbledon 298.88(photo credit: AP)By ALLON SINAIThe Jewish/Muslim pairing of Shahar Pe'er and Sania Mirza needed just three minutes on Tuesday afternoon to wrap up a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Agnes Szava and Vladimira Uhlirova in the second round of the doubles tournament.
The Israeli/Indian duo, seeded 16th in the event, were in a commanding lead in the second round match when rain suspended play on Monday night and easily won two quick games on Tuesday to clinch a spot in the third round.
Pe'er and Mirza have attracted plenty of attention at the All England Club in recent days after deciding to renew their doubles partnership - which was initially cut short in 2005 when it was met with anger by religious Muslim groups.
"We're just here to play tennis and we're here to perform and to do our best," said Mirza. "We've grown up together. We're great friends. So we said, why not?"
Insisting the attention has not affected the duo, Mirza added: "Shahar and I are playing just like the way I played with anyone else the last six weeks. It doesn't make any statement. We've done well in the past. "We really don't care whether she's from Israel or I'm from Pakistan. At the end of the day it matters whether we win a match or not."
Up next for Pe'er and Mirza is the daunting task of trying to overcome the world's best women's doubles team of Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.
Also on Tuesday, French Open champions Andy Ram and Nathalie Dechy defeated Lukasz Kubot and Sybille Bammer 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the mixed doubles tournament.RECOMMENDED STORIESAt least 70 wounded, two killed after four rounds of Iranian attack slam IsraelJUNE 12, 2025Israel trying to persuade US to join in continuing strikes on Iran, sources tell 'Post'JUNE 13, 2025Vacation ruse, phantom trip, hostage decoy: How Israel misled Tehran before Iran strikeJUNE 13, 2025Mossad leads series of secret attack operations in heart of IranJUNE 13, 2025