Bhupathi, Malisse enter 2nd round of French Open

PARIS: Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belgian partner Xavier Malisse kicked off their French Open men's doubles campaign in style with a 6-2, 6-2 win against unheralded Gilles Muller of Luxemburg and Christophe Rochus of Belgium on Wednesday.

In court number eight, the Bhupathi-Malisse pair was in control right from the beginning and they never relaxed their grip, dropping just four games on their way to a facile straight set win.

In the second round, the Bhupathi-Malisse pair will take on either 12th seeded Argentine pair of Jose Acasuso and Sebastian Prieto or American Tripp Phillips or his Russian comrade-in-arms Dmitry Tursunov.

Meanwhile, seventh seeds Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm will play their first round match against unseeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevich and Russian Mikhail Youzhny.