The Hindu : Sport : Bhupathi and Knowles advance

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Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009
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Bhupathi and Knowles advance

Melbourne: Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles sailed into the quarterfinals in the men’s doubles draw defeating Nicolas Lapentti and Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4 on Monday. Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy, the fourth seeds, also advanced defeating Aussies Paul Hanley and Jordan Kerr 6-2, 7-5.

The third seeded Indo-Bahamian pair took 70 minutes to dispatch the unseeded Ecuadorian-Spanish combine in their third round clash. They squandered six breakpoints but broke thrice in the match. They were pushed on their own service games only twice and were up the task on both occasions.

They next face the Spanish pair of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.

Vinayak moves up

Among the juniors, Kaza Vinayak Sharma joined compatriot and top seed Yuki Bhambri in the second round of the boys’ singles after a 6-4, 6-2 win over Sweden’s Patrik Brydolf.

However, Sudanwa Sitaram lost his opening round clash to Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-3, 6-4.

In the boys’ doubles, the top-seeded combine of Yuki Bhambri and Huang Liang-chi advanced to the second round beating Gabriel Dias and Sanchez Delfin 7-5, 6-3.

But, Vinayak Sharma and Ronak Manuja fell 7-6(1), 6-0 in the first round to Luke Saville and Jack Schipanski. And, seventh-seeded Francis Casey Alcantara and Hsieh Cheng-peng defeated Toni Androic and Sudarwa Sitaram 6-3, 6-4.

The Indian challenge in the girls’ singles ended with the defeat of Kyra Shroff, who suffered a 6-0, 6-3 mauling at the hands of Monika Tumova of Czech Republic.

However, Shroff made it past the first hurdle in the girls’ doubles draw with her Canadian partner Eugenie Bouchard when Ema Burgic and Chanel Simmonds threw in the towel after losing the first set.

Tanvi Shah and Rashmi Teltumbde went down fighting against Ester Goldfeld of America and Briton Hannah James, losing 6-4, 7-6(5) in the first round. — PTI

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