French Open: Paes-Vesnina through to mixed quarters

Paris: Leander Paes had mixed luck in the French Open tennis Saturday. While the top Indian doubles player and his Russian partner Elena Vesnina easily won through to the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles, he and Austrian Alexander Peya lost the men’s double second round. Paes and Vesnina, seeded fifth, beat French pair Mathilde Johansson and Marc Gicquel 6-2, 6-0, while seventh-seeded Paes and Peya were beaten in the men’s doubles by Mikhail Elgin of Russia and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, 4-6, 1-6. Paes and Vesnina dominated the match and it was a matter of time before the French gave in. The Indo-Russian pair awaits the winners of the match between top seeds Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Leizel Huber of the US and Peya and Alicia Rosolska of Poland. [caption id=“attachment_330382” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina in this file photo. Reuters”]  [/caption] Peya and Rosolska Saturday beat Brazilian Bruno Soares and Jarmila Gaidosova of Australia in the super tie-break in a hard-fought match, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 10-8. In the men’s doubles, the Indo-Austrian pair failed to take advantage of the four break points on offer, converting only one of them, whereas the unseeded Russian-Uzbek combine converted five of the 10 break points. India’s remaining hope at the Open is the other mixed doubles team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza. It was a nightmarish championship for the Indians. Sixth seeds Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna lost in the doubles first round to French pair of Marc Gicquel and Edouard Roger-Vasselin Thursday while Sania and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands crashed out of the women’s doubles Tuesday. Bopanna, partnering American Lisa Raymond, lost to the unseeded team of Natalie Grandin of South Africa and Australian Paul Hanley in the opening round. IANS