Five Indians in Australian Open men's doubles event

Melbourne:

Seasoned campaigners Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, with their respective partners, would be India's best bets yet again in the men's doubles event of the Australian Open.

Bhupathi, who was runner up here last year with Mark Knowles, will partner Belarussian Max Mirnyi this season.

They have been seeded fourth and will open their campaign against Michael Kohlmann of Germany and Jarkko Nieminen Finland.

Old warhorse Paes and his long-time Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy are seeded third and will take on the Czech pair of Leos Friedl and David Skoch in the first round.

Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj, who failed to qualify for the singles main draw, have been given a wild card entry in doubles.

They are up against Americans James Cerretani and Travis Rettenmaier tomorrow.