Leander Paes emerged victorious in a tight mixed doubles contest against Mahesh Bhupathi to advance to the quarterfinals, while Sania Mirza stormed into the last-eight stage in her two events at the Australian Open on Monday.
Paes and his Slovakian partner Daniela Hantuchova, unseeded in the tournament, scored an upset victory over eighth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-0, 2-6, 10-6 to make it to the quarterfinals.
The match was an intense affair and lasted 57 minutes.
The third and deciding set was a closely fought one but Paes and Hantuchova held on to eke out a win.
Sania’s two wins
Sania and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black beat Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Russia’s Vera Dushevina 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 12 minutes to reach the women’s doubles quarterfinals.
The Indian then joined Romania’s Horia Tecau to outplay Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Britain’s Colin Fleming 6-2, 6-2 in a 51-minute mixed doubles pre-quarterfinal match.
Another Indian, Rohan Bopanna and partner Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia also entered the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event after posting a 7-6(5), 7-5 win over Australian duo of Ashleigh Barty and John Peers.
In junior girls’ doubles, Simran Kaur Sethi and South African partner Ilze Hattingh lost 7-6(2), 6-7(7), 10-3 in the first round to Michaela Gordon and Katrine Steffensen of U.S.