Paes-Stepanek pair beats Safin-Tursunov in Rome Masters

New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) Unseeded Leander Paes and his Czech comrade-in-arm Radek Stepanek overcame early jitters to tame the Russian duo of temperamental Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov in straight sets to move into the second round of the 2,082,500 dollar Rome Masters.

With this 7-5, 6-3 win again the Russians, the Indo-Czech pair runs into top seeded Bryan brothers -- Bob and Mike -- of the US in the second round.

Meanwhile, Paes' estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi and his South African team mate Wesley Moody, seeded eighth, has been given a bye in the first round and the Indo-African pair meets Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu of Chile in the second round.

The Chilean pair survived a marathon battle and came from behind to beat the Italian wild card Daniele Bracciali and Giorgio Galimberti 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 10-6.

And there would be another Paes vs Bhupathi showdown in the third round of both of them win their second round matches, according to information received here today.

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