Mixed luck for Indian stars

Leander Paes enjoyed an all-win outing to enter the quarterfinals of both the men's doubles and mixed doubles events but it was a mixed day for Sania Mirza in the season's last Grand Slam - the US Open.

Leander Paes enjoyed an all-win outing to enter the quarterfinals of both the men's doubles and mixed doubles events but it was a mixed day for Sania Mirza in the season's last Grand Slam - the US Open.

Paes and his Czech men's doubles partner Radek Stepanek sailed into the last-eight stage after the fifth seeds defeated the American-Australian combination of the Jesse Levine and Marinko Matosevic 6-1 6-3.

Paes and Stepanek will now face the third-seeded Swedish-Romanian pair of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau.

The veteran then went on to register a hard-fought three-set win in the mixed doubles third round with Russian partner Elena Vesnina. The third-seeded Indo-Russian team rallied to beat unseeded Americans Abigail Spears and Scott Lipsky 4-6 6-4 1-0 (5).

Paes and Vesnina will face seventh-seeded Czechs Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek Cermak.

Sania Mirza too won her her mixed doubles third-round match with Brit partner Colin Fleming, whom she picked after ending her successful alliance with Mahesh Bhupathi before the event.

But Sania's women's doubles campaign ended when the Indian and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands lost to second-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

The 13th seeds lost 4-6 7-6 (7) 3-6.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi's challenge in the event came to an end when the veteran and his Czech partner Andrea Hlavackova, seeded sixth, gave a walkover to Spaniards Nuria Llagostera Vives and David Marrero in the mixed doubles second round.

Bhupathi had earlier bowed out of the men's doubles event in which he had teamed up with compatriot Rohan Bopanna.