Paes, Sania, Bopanna advance to Australian Open quarterfinals

MELBOURNE: 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 here today.

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.

Sania and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black beat the pair of Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-4 6-3 in an hour and 12 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of the women's doubles.

The Indian then joined hands with her Romanian partner Horia Tecau to outplay Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Britain's Colin Fleming 6-2 6-2 in a 51-minute mixed doubles pre-quarterfinal match.

Another Indian, Rohan Bopanna and his partner Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia also entered the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event after posting 7-6(5) 7-5 win over Australian duo of Ashleigh Barty and John Peers.

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.