Leander Paes emerged victorious in a tight mixed doubles contest against Mahesh Bhupathi to advance to the quarterfinals while Sania Mirza stormed into the last-eight stage in her two events at the Australian Open on Monday.
MELBOURNE: Sania Mirza enjoyed a successful outing at the Australian Open on Monday, reaching the quarterfinals in the women's doubles and mixed doubles. Two more Indians - Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna - made the mixed doubles quarters with their respective partners.
Leander Paes and his mixed doubles partner Daniela Hantuchova during their tie against eighth seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina of Russia at the Australian Open on Monday. Pic/AFP
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Paes and his Slovakian partner Daniela Hantuchova, unseeded in the tournament, scored an upset victory over eighth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-0 2-6 10-6 to make it to the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles.
The mixed doubles pre-quarterfinal match involving two Indians in Paes and his one-time partner Bhupathi was an intense affair and lasted 57 minutes.
After registering a comfortable win in the opening set, the Paes-Hantuchova pair slipped in the next one, even as Bhupathi and Elena converted two of the three break points to run away with the second set.
The third and deciding set was a closely fought one but Paes and Hantuchova held on to their nerves to eke out a win.
They will now take on the pair of Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada in the last eight round match.
Sania and Cara Black of Zimbabwe beat the Canada-Russian pair of Eugenie Bouchard and Vera Dushevina 6-4, 6-3 in a third round match on Court 2.
Sania Mirza and Cara Black of Zimbabwe during their Australian Open third round match against the Canada-Russian pair of Eugenie Bouchard and Vera Dushevina on Monday. Pic/AFP
The sixth seeds now have a tough task at hands as they will meet world number one Italian combo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals.
The Indian partnering Romania's Horia Tecau later defeated the Australian-English duo of Anastasia Rodionova and Colin Fleming 6-2, 6-2 in the mixed doubles second round. The sixth seeds face either the pair of Julia Goerges-Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi or Andrea Hlavackova-Max Mirnyi in the quarterfinals.
Second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia got past Australia's Ashleigh Barty and John Peers 7-6 (5), 7-5. They await seventh seeds Kveta Peschke and Marcin Matkowski in the quarters.
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