Mixed fortune for Indians in men's doubles

New York, Aug 29 (UNI) It was a day of mixed fortune for the Indians in the doubles as veteran Mahesh Bhupathi along with Mark Knowles of Bahamas chalked out a facile win while Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam ul Haq Qureshi crashed out of the event in the US Open here.

Bhupathi and Knowles outplayed Swedish duo of Johan Brunstrom and Thomas Johansson 6-3 6-4 in 65 minutes, while Bopanna and Quershi went down 5-7 3-6 to French Pair of Marc Gicquel and Sebastien Grosjean in the match that lasted 83 minutes.

The Indo-Bahamas proved to be too strong for their Swedish opponents and did not face even a single breakpoint in the tie while breaking their rivals once in each set to move to the next round.

They will now face Swiss Yves Allegro and Romania Horia Tecau in their second round.

Bopanna and Qureshi were broken twice in the first set and in the second they muffed two chances and committed several unforced errors to drop their serve for the third time in the match.

Former Indian Davis Cup skipper Leander Paes, has alreaday moved into the second round along with his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy and now will face Eduardo Schwank of Argentina and Potito Starace of Italy.

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