India’s Leander Paes-Vishnu Vardhan and Mahesh Bhupathi-Rohan Bopanna, advanced to the second round of the men’s doubles competition in London Olympics on Monday.
Paes and Vardhan who took on the pair of Jean-Julien Rojer and Robin Haase from Netherlands displayed an attacking tennis to end the Dutch challenge in a hard fought three set match. The Indian pair won 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-2 in an hour and 52 minutes.
Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, whose insistence to play together sparked off the selection row, staved off a spirited challenge from Belarus pair of Max Mirnyi and Alexander Bury 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 8-6 in a tussle which lasted two hours and 26 minutes here.
Meanwhile earlier in day, Vardhan’s who made a lucky cut into the Olympics singles draw after German Phillip Kohlschreiber pulled out with an injury saw his dream outing cut short by Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic in the first round.
