Paes-Stepanek advance at Indian Wells, Bhupathi-Bopanna out
India's Leander Paes and his partner Radek Stepanek advanced to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells tennis tournament while Indian duo Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out.
India's Leander Paes and his partner Radek Stepanek advanced to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells tennis tournament while Indian duo Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out.
Paes notched the 600th doubles match win of his career Saturday when he partnered Radek Stepanek to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spaniards David Ferrer and Albert Ramos in the first round. The seventh seeds, who won the Australian Open in January, converted six of their eight break point opportunities for victory in 67 minutes.
The Indian, who turned pro in 1991 and will be 39 in 17 June, has a 600-311 record overall. Paes won the 2007 Indian Wells title with Martin Damm.
Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost just 13 points on serve and hit ten aces past fifth-seeded Indians Bhupathi and Bopanna 6-4, 6-3 in 68 minutes. They will next challenge Florian Mayer and Jarkko Nieminen.
Bhupathi and Bopanna won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last week and have a 10-5 match record this season.