Bhupathi out, Paes and Sania advance

Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi made a first-round exit even as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza notched up wins with their respective partners in Melbourne.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi made a first-round exit even as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza notched up wins with their respective partners in Melbourne.

HT Image

Paes and Lukas Dlouhy didn’t have much trouble in sailing past Czechs Leos Friedl and David Skoch 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the men’s doubles event. But Bhupathi and Mirnyi disappointed with a 4-6, 4-6 loss to the unseeded German-Finnish pair of Michael Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen. Sania and Virginia Ruano Pascual won 6-4, 6-2 over the unseeded Indonesian-Japanese duo of Yayuk Basuki and Kimiko Date Krumm.