Sania, Paes advance; Bhupathi pull out of Aus Open
[Sat Jan 23, 2010]Mahesh Bhupathi's first round exit from men's doubles at Australian Open was disappointing for every Indian considering he is an ace doubles player and his reformed partnership with Max Mirnyi from Belarus was going strong. Meanwhile, other Indians at the event, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza sailed to next round with ease with their respective partners.
Mahesh Bhupathi suffering from calf injury was advised to take rest for 10 days, but the schedule didn't allow him to do so. However during the match the pain got worse, forcing him and Mirnyi to lose to an unseeded pair German-Finnish pair of Michael Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen in two straight sets 4-6 4-6. Bhupathi-Mirnyi had good records together as they won men's doubles title at US Open in 2002. However, Bhupathi also withdrew from mixed doubles event where he was due to partner Sania Mirza. Bhupathi-Mirza, last year won the tile.
Meanwhile Paes along with his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded third, didn't have much trouble to surpass Czech pair Leos Friedl and David Skoch 6-3 6-1. Sania too along with her new found partner of the season Virginia Ruano Pascual from Spain, seeded 10th, defeated unseeded Indonesian-Japanese pair of Kimiko Date Krumm and Yayuk Basuki 6-4 6-2 in the first round.
