Paes, Damm crash out of Australian Open

MELBOURNE: Leander Paes and his Czech Republic partner Martin Damm's run at the Australian Open ended after they lost their third round men's doubles match to Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut of France in straight sets.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Czech pair went down 5-7 6-7 (9) to the French duo in a two-hour long battle.

The Indian star then joined hands with Stosur to defeat Switzerland's Yves Allegro and Russian Elena Bovina 6-2 6-2 to moved into the second round of mixed doubles.

The Indo-Australian pair, seeded third, next face South African Chris Haggard and Greece's Elini Daniilidou who beat Czech Republic's Leos Friedl and Frenchwoman Tathiana Garbin 6-3 6-1.

Paes and Stosur were never really troubled as they served well and won 87 per cent and 73 per cent of the points on the first and second deliveries respectively.

They also converted all four break points they got without giving their opponents any such opportunity.