Press Trust of India
Paris, May 29: Leander Paes and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor breezed into the third round in the men’s doubles event at the French Open, here Friday with a straight-set victory over the German-Austrian pair of Andre Begemann and Julian Knowle. The 10th seeded Indo-Canadian pair made short work of Begemann-Knowle winning in straight sets 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. This incidentally was the 701st doubles win for Paes.
While the first set saw both pairs trade a break each, it went to the tie-breaker where the fancied pair of Paes-Nestor brought on all their
experience into play winning it at three.
The second set was a virtual cakewalk as the winners got a double break straightaway in the second and fourth games to lead 4-0 as the German-Austrian pair couldn’t comeback despite winning a couple of service. The highlight of Paes-Nestor pair’s performance was the successful conversion of 82 per cent of their first serves.
They finally won the match on the eighth game to progress to the next round along with Bryan brothers. Bob and Mike defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis and Lucas Pouille 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3).
In a late night match, the top seed pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis advanced to the last 16 with an easy 6-3, 6-4 win over Stepahine Foretz and Amandine Hesse. The match lasted 68 minutes.
