Paes-Dlouhy advance to pre-quarters at Gerry Weber Open

NEW DELHI: Leander Paes and his partner Lukas Dlouhy overcame Marcos Baghdatis and Olivier Rochus in straight sets to advance to the pre-quarterfinals of men's doubles event of the euro 713000 Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany on Monday.
    
The fourth seeded Indo-Czech combine defeated the unseeded Cyprus-Belgium pair 6-2 7-6 (6) in one hour and nine minutes in the first round of the grass court competition, which is a warm up event for the Wimbledon Championships.
    
Paes and Dlouhy converted two of the four breakpoints in the first set to shot into the lead.
    
Their rivals did stretch them in the second, exchanging breaks and eventually pushing the set to a tie-breaker, but Paes and his new doubles partner finally prevailed.
    
They next face winners of Julien Bennetean/Michael Llodra vs Michael Berrer/Tommy Hass match.
    
In another ATP event in London, the euro 713000 Artois Championships, Indian Davis Cuppers Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna also booked a pre-quarterfinal berth after getting a bye in the first round.