Paes-Stepanek sail into quarters

It was a fruitful day for Leander Paes, who sailed into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles with Czech partner Radek Stepanek, besides making the second round of the mixed doubles with Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova at the Australian Open.

It was a fruitful day for Leander Paes, who sailed into the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles with Czech partner Radek Stepanek, besides making the second round of the mixed doubles with Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova at the Australian Open.

The fifth seeds hit 25 winners en route their 6-3 6-2 win over unseeded pair of Yuki Bhambri and New Zealand’s Michael Venus in the pre-quarterfinal, which lasted 65 minutes.

In his mixed doubles first round match, Paes, partnering Hantuchova, got the better of Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia and Australia’s James Duckworth 7-5 4-6 10-7 in an hour and 26 minutes to set up a second round clash against Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina.

hesh up, bops out

Eighth seeded duo of Bhupathi and Vesnina of Russia crossed the first-round hurdle in their mixed doubles match with a 6-7(3) 6-4 10-5 win over Spanish pair of Arantxa Parra-Santonj and David Marrero in a 92-minute contest.

However, seventh seeded Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi endured a shocking 4-6, 6-7(1) defeat against the 12th seeded duo of Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot.

In the men’s doubles, Paes ended the dream run of young compatriot Bhambri. The Indo-Czech duo will next take on 13th seeded French combo of Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut in the quarterfinals.

They had added a second Grand Slam championship to their collection at last year’s US Open with win over Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares.