Aus Open: Bopanna-Mergea in third round

Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea reached the third round of the men's doubles event at the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Lukas Dlouhy and Jiri Vesely. Mahesh Bhupathi and Gilles Muller were knocked out of the tournament with a 3-6, 2-6 defeat against Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan.

Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea after their first round win on Thursday.

Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea breezed into the pre-quarterfinals of the Australian Open while Mahesh Bhupathi made a second round exit with partner Gilles Muller, in Melbourne on Friday. Fourth seeded Indo-Romanian team was fluent in their 6-3, 6-2 win over Lukas Dlouhy and Jiri Vesely as they saved all the three break chances.

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They broke the Czech team thrice, racing to the win in just 59 minutes.

Bopanna and Mergea next face next 14th seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, who beat Brazilians Thomaz Bellucci and Marcelo Demoliner 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-4.

Bhupathi’s campaign ended with tame 3-6, 2-6 defeat against American third seeds Bob and Mike Bryan. Bhupathi and his partner from Luxembourg could not earn a single break chance in the match which was over in 53 minutes.

Meanwhile, Leander Paes and Martina Hingis’ mixed doubles match against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Dominic Inglot from Britain was cancelled due to rain.