Paes, Bopanna to clash in doubles

India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi survived their respective tough opening rounds to advance at the Australian Open.

Experienced fifth seeds Paes and Paul Hanley of Australia kept their cool to oust Luis Horna of Peru and Austrian Stefan Koubek 7-6(2), 7-6(5) in Melbourne on Thursday.

Paes will next meet countryman Bopanna, who combined with USA's Rajeev Ram to post his first Grand Slam win on Wednesday.

Bopanna, India's top singles player, and Ram beat the British-American duo of James Auckland and Sam Querrey 6-1, 7-6(4).

Bhupathi, making a comeback after a back surgery, and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas overcame Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev of Germany 7-6(10), 6-4 to set up a second round clash with Yves Allegro and Kristof Vliegen.