Thaindian News

Paris, May 28 (IANS) India’s doubles exponents Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi fought hard but could not get past Australia’s Stephen Huss and Ashley Fisher, losing 6-7(7), 4-6 in the second round of French Open men’s doubles here Saturday.

Paes, however, progressed in the mixed doubles quarterfinals later in the day. Seventh-seeded Paes and Czech Iveta Benesova overcame second set resistance from Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei and Marcin Matkowski of Poland to win 6-4, 7-6(1).

They next play the winners of the match between top seed Katarina Srebotnik Slovenia Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and France’s Virginie Razzano and Dick Norman of Belgium.

In the men’s doubles, the third-seeded Indians could not break the Australians even once during the 92-minute clash. Huss and Fisher, on the other hand, were nimble-footed and sharp with their groundstrokes. They dominated the frequent net sparring and also served better, double-faulting only once in the entire match while the Indians had four of them.

In the first set, both teams served strong to enforce a tie-breaker. The Indians had two set points but failed to convert. A superb backhand volley by Huss gave the Australians their first set points and they sealed the set when Bhupathi’s forehand sailed long.

Huss and Fisher carried the momentum in the second game and broke Paes’ serve in the seventh game. They soon served out the set and the match.

The third-seeded Indian pair had been the champions here twice–1999, 2001. They split in 2002. They reunited this year in Chennai Open in their quest to win the only Grand Slam missing from their cabinet, the Australian Open. They reached the final in Melbourne but lost to Bryan brothers.

After their split, Paes won here for the third time with Czech Lukas Dlouhy in 2009.