Melbourne January 27:
India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi stormed into the men's doubles semi-finals but it was the end of road for Paes in the mixed doubles event of the Australian Open tennis here.
The third-seeded Indian pair, who are playing together in a Grand Slam after nine years, dispatched eighth seeded Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4. They next face second seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada. However, Paes could not continue his winning run in the mixed doubles. He and Cara Black of Zimbabwe, seeded fourth, went down fighting to Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei and Paul Hanley of Australia 6-7(11), 6-7(5) in the second round.
In contrast, Bhupathi and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia had it easy against Sara Errani of Italy and David Marrero of Spain in the second round, winning 6-3, 6-1. They now play second seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia and Nestor in the quarterfinals.
India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi stormed into the men's doubles semi-finals but it was the end of road for Paes in the mixed doubles event of the Australian Open tennis here.
The third-seeded Indian pair, who are playing together in a Grand Slam after nine years, dispatched eighth seeded Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4. They next face second seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada. However, Paes could not continue his winning run in the mixed doubles. He and Cara Black of Zimbabwe, seeded fourth, went down fighting to Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei and Paul Hanley of Australia 6-7(11), 6-7(5) in the second round.
In contrast, Bhupathi and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia had it easy against Sara Errani of Italy and David Marrero of Spain in the second round, winning 6-3, 6-1. They now play second seeds Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia and Nestor in the quarterfinals.
