India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Daniel Nestor of Bahamas advanced to the second round of the men’s doubles event of the Sony Open ATP tour tennis tournament after a hard-fought victory over Richard Gasquet and Edouard Roger-Vasselin here.
Bhupathi and Nestor notched up a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win over their French opponents in a 79-minute opening round match in the USD 4,330,625 prize money hard court tournament.
The third-seeded Indo-Bahamian pair came from behind to force a tie-break in the first-set but they were in control of the second set. Bhupathi and Nestor won 82 per cent of their service points and saved both break points they faced.
They next play Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and his Austrian partner Oliver Marach, who beat Colombian Juan Sebastian Cabal and his Mexican partner Santiago Gonzalez 6-3, 6-4, in their first round match.
Another Indian, Leander Paes and his French partner Michael Llodra, seeded seventh, have also advanced in the second round after defeating Germany’s Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5.
