US Open: Paes-Stepanek win, Bhupathi-Bopanna knocked out

New York - Fifth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek advanced to the men’s doubles second round at the US Open while eighth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the competition here.

Sania Mirza, playing alongside new mixed doubles partner Coling Fleming after splitting with Bhupathi, cleared the first hurdle at the Flushing Meadows here Wednesday.

Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek downed Germany’s Dustin Brown and Christopher Kas 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round match lasting 54 minutes. They next play Brazilian duo of Thomas Belluci and Joao Souza, who edged out Croat Ivo Karlovic and German Frank Moser 7-6, 7-6.

The Indian combine of Bhupathi and Bopanna lost to Australia’s Bernard Tomic and Matthew Ebden 3-6, 6-7, making a pre-mature exit from the last Grand Slam of the year.

A break was enough for the Australian pair to secure the first set while the second went down to the wire. Tomic and Ebden won the crucial points to seal the tie-break 7-4 and the match. They face Russia’s Alex Bogomolov Jr. and South Africa’s Raven Klaasen in the second round.

In the the mixed doubles, Sania and Fleming beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic and American Eric Butorac 6-2, 7-6 and next play either local hope Melanie Oudin and Jack Sock or the Serbian-Slovakian pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Katarina Srebotnik.