It turned to be a good day for India at the Australian Open as veteran Mahesh Bhupathi entered the men’s doubles third round while Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna progressed to the mixed doubles second round with their respective partners, here.
Bhupathi and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor, seeded fifth, defeated Romania’s Victor Hanescu and Slovak Martin Klizan 6-1, 7-6 (8) to enter the third round. They next face unseeded Italian combination of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, who shocked 12th seeds Rohan Bopanna and Rajeev Ram 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Paes and Elena Vesnina overcame a stiff resistance from unseeded team of Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in the first round.
The second seeded Indo-Russian pair came from behind to edge past the unseeded rivals 6-7 (8), 6-4, 10-7 in one hour and 48 minutes contest. They next take on Australian pair of Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden. Bopanna and Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh defeated Australian-American pairing of Ashleigh Barty and Jack Sock 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the mixed doubles.
The results: Men’s doubles: Second round : 5-Mahesh Bhupathi & Daniel Nestor bt Victor Hanescu & Martin Klizan 6-1, 7-6(8); Simone Bolelli & Fabio Fognini bt 12-Rohan Bopanna & Rajeev Ram 6-2, 7-6(3). Mixed doubles: Second round : Rohan Bopanna & Su-Wei Hsieh bt Ashleigh Barty & Jack Sock 6-3, 6-3. First round : 2-Leander Paes & Elena Vesnina bt Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi & Sofia Arvidsson 6-7(8), 6-4, 10-7.
