Paes-Bhupathi take straight route to quarters

Their impeccable on-court camaraderie betrayed no signs of a stormy past as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi inched...

Their impeccable on-court camaraderie betrayed no signs of a stormy past as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi inched closer to their first joint Olympic medal by reaching the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles event here on Wednesday.

The seventh-seeded Indians played compact tennis to defeat Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa of Brazil 6-4, 6-2 in just over an hour. In the quarter-finals, they will take on the fourth-seeded Swiss pair of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, who defeated the Russian duo of Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny, 6-4, 6-3.

Paes and Bhupathi were in perfect sync and they combined well to negate the Brazilians. Breaking Sa early in the third game put them ahead and the duo subsequently did not relax their grip over the proceedings as they sealed the first set without much ado.

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Paes and Bhupathi put themselves in the driver’s seat by breaking Melo in the first game of the second set. In the seventh game, a couple of double faults by Sa handed the Indians a golden opportunity to take the match away from the Brazilians and they did just that, courtesy a scorching Bhupathi winner. Bhupathi then served out for the set and match to complete the formality that kept them right on course for an Olympic medal.

Sania-Sunitha crash out

A half-fit Sania Mirza and rookie Sunitha Rao tried every trick in the book but could not avert a defeat against top seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina of Russia in the second round of the women’s doubles tennis event.

The Indian scratch pair fought tooth and nail but it was the Russians who ended on the right side of the scoreline, winning 6-4, 6-4.

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