E-Paper
Lee-Hesh battle into quarterfinals
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi moved into quarterfinals but 'Indo-Pak Express', Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out of the men's doubles event in the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi moved into quarterfinals but 'Indo-Pak Express', Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out of the men's doubles event in the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
The ace Indian pair of Paes and Bhupathi, who teamed up together after nine years in a bid to add the only Grand Slam title - the Australian Open - missing in their cupboard, scored a fighting three set win over 13th seeds Granollers and Robredo 6-4 4-6 6-4 in an engrossing third round clash that lasted for an hour and 52 minutes.
Things, however, did not fall in place for Bopanna and Qureshi as the 'Indo-Pak Express' went down fighting to France's Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-3 6-7 6-7 in another tough third round match which spanned over two hours.
Third seeded pair of Paes and Bhupathi started the match positively as they pocketed the first set in just 33 minutes. But Granollers and Robredo made a strong comeback in the second to take the encounter into the decider which the Indians won after a 42 minute battle.
The highlight of Paes and Bhupathi's game today was their cent percent break point conversion. The Indian pair made use of the two opportunities that came their way while their opponents could only manage two out of the four chances they earned.
