Australian Open round-up: Bhupathi progresses to round 2; Paes knocked out
Mahesh Bhupathi and Luxembourg's Gilles Muller progressed to the second round of the men's doubles at the Australian Open, while Jeremy Chardy and Leander Paes were knocked out in straight sets.
Gilles Muller, who is World No. 38 in singles, became Mahesh Bhupati's 82nd doubles partner for this tournament. The duo had to fight hard for their win against the unseeded Australian pair of Alex Bolt and Andrew Whittington. The Indo-Luxembourg pair won the first set tie-breaker 7-4, before going losing the second set. However, Bhupati and Muller fought back to win the third set and the match 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.
Bhupathi and Muller will now face the winner of the match between the third-seeded Bryan brothers and the unseeded team of Chris Guccione/ Andre Sa.
Like Bhupathi, Leander Paes also came into this tournament with a new partner – Jeremy Chardy. The Frenchman is Paes' 107th partner in the men's double circuit. At this point, one can throw a stone blindfolded anywhere within the Rod Laver arena and hit a former partner of Paes.
The Indo-French duo faced the Colombian pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in their first round fixture, and they were knocked out in straight sets 3-6, 4-6.
India's biggest hope in men's doubles – fourth-seeded Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea – will kick-off their campaign tomorrow, in their first round fixture against the Australian pair of Omar Jasika and the flamboyant Nick Kyrgios.
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis will also play their first round fixture tomorrow, in the women's doubles, against Mariana Duque-Marino and Teliana Pereira.
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