Paes, Bopanna advance at US Open

Indian stars Rohan Bopanna and Leander Paes registered contrasting wins to enter the second round of their respective categories at the US Open tennis tournament here.

Bopana and his Danish partner Frederik Nielsen entered the second round of the men's doubles competition with a hard fought victory over Radek Stepanek and Nenad Zimonjic at Flushing Meadows here late on Wednesday evening.

Paes and Swiss star Martina Hingis meanwhile, hardly broke sweat as they opened their campaign in the mixed doubles category with an easy win.

Bopanna and Nielsen won the first round encounter 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in one hour and 53 minutes.

They will now take on the US-New Zealand combination of Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell for a place in the pre-quarterfinals.

Baker and Daniell registered an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over Malek Jaziri of Tunisia and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo of Chile in their opening round clash.

Earlier in the day, the veteran duo of Paes and Hingis outplayed the American pair of Sachia Vickery and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-2 in 51 minutes.

Paes and Hingis will take on the winner of the first round clash between Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia and Americans Coco Vandeweghe and Rajeev Ram in the second round.

--IANS

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