23 January,2009 09:51 AM IST | | PTI
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi advanced to the men's second round event with their respective partners, while Sania Mirza's campaign was cut short in the women's doubles opener at the Australian Open yesterday.
Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, seeded third, defeated Mikhail Youzhny of and Mischa Zvererv 6-3, 6-2 in their men's doubles first-round encounter. They will next meet Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov.
Fourth seeds Paes and Lukas Dlouhy rallied to a three-set win against Yves Allegro and Fabrice Santoro.
They clinched a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory. Their next opponents will be Fabio Fognini and Ivan Ljubicic. However, disappointment was in store for India as Sania and partner Vania King bowed out in the first round of the women's doubles event. The pair went down to Verra Dushevina and Olga Savchuka 6-4, 1-6, 1-6.
Sania, Hesh pair up
Sania will now take to court with Bhupathi for the mixed doubles event were they will square up against sixth seeds Kveta Peschke and Pavel Vizner in the first round.
The pair of Paes and Cara Black, who are top seeded, have been pitted against Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Nenad Zimonjic.
