Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Sharan advance in US Open

Indian tennis players Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Divij Sharan advanced to the second round of the US Open in their respective matches at the Flushing Meadows here.

However, it was the end of the road for Mahesh Bhupathi in the men's doubles as he lost his opening round encounter. Partnering German Philipp Petzschner on Court 9, the Indian lost to experienced Canadian duo Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 3-6, 6-7(4) Thursday.

Elsewhere on Court 16, Sania with her Chinese partner Zheng Jie made a winning start in the women’s doubles as they dispatched German Annika Beck and Puerto Rican Monica Puig in straight sets, winning 6-2, 6-2 at the USTA National Tennis Center. The 10th seeds next play Hungarian-American combine of Katalin Marosi and Megan Moulton-Levy.

Veteran star Paes also opened his campaign with a win along with Czech Radek Stepanek and overcame Finnish-Russian pair Jarkko Nieminen and Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6(4) in a tough first round match on Court 10. The fourth seeds next play German-Austro duo Daniel Brands and Philipp Oswald.

Meanwhile, youngster Sharan also started his Grand Slam campaign in style. The Indian partnered Chinese Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu to defeat Dutch players Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling 6-1, 7-5 on Court 15. The victorious combination will face experienced Israeli pair of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the second round.