Australian Open: Paes-Raja battle into pre-quarters

The unseeded Indian pair of Leander Paes and Purav Raja bounced back from a set down to book their place in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's doubles event of the Australian Open here on Saturday.

After winning the first set, Paes and Raja went down in the second before they rebounded strongly to eventually prevail the English-Brazilian duo of fifth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 7-6 (3), 5-7, 7-6 (6) in a clash that lasted two hours and 54 minutes.

Despite Paes and Raja struck eight winners less than their opponents' 19, the Indian pair won the first set, which also saw Murray-Soares making five double faults.

In the second set, the two teams were more or less evenly matched, but Paes and Raja's failed to convert five break points to lose the set.

The match was then forced into a tiebreaker in the third set, where Paes and Raja saved a match point at 5-6 before bringing up one of their own to win the match.

The Indian duo will now take on Colombian duo of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah for a place in the quarter-finals.