Mahesh-Bopanna exit; Paes advances

India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the Australian Open men's double while Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek cruised into the quarter-finals here yesterday.


India's Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Rohan Bopanna during yesterday's
Australian Open men's doubles match against Scott Lipsky & Rajeev Ram.
Pic/AFP

Bhupathi and Bopanna, seeded fourth, went down in straight-sets 6-7(8), 2-6 to Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram in their pre-quarter-final match.

Bhupathi and Bopanna still have a chance to win silverware in the mixed doubles event. The duo reached the second round of the mixed doubles with their partners Sania Mirza and Lisa Raymond.

Paes and Stepanek, who are unseeded, marched into the quarter-finals with another dominating performance. The Indo-Czech pair beat the third seeds Frenchman Michael Llodra and Serb Nenad Zimonjic 7-5, 7-6(7-2).

The Indo-Czech pair has not dropped a single set so far in the competition so far and hardly gave the third seeds a chance to settle in the match.