SPORTS

Field day for Bhupathi

May 31, 2003 19:46 IST

Indian tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi had a fine day at the French Open tennis championships, winning his men's doubles and mixed doubles matches on Saturday.

He and partner Max Miryni of Belarus easily made it to the third round in the men's doubles, defeating Thierry Ascione and Julien Varlet of France 6-3, 6-4.

They meet 14th seeds Frantisek Cermak and Leos Friedl of the Czech Republic, who got the better of Devin Bowen of US and Ashley Fisher of Australia, 6-4, 6-4.

Later in the day, Bhupathi and Elena Likhovtseva of Russia beat Tatiana Golovin of France and Mansour Bahrami of Iran in a first round mixed doubles match, the third seeds winning 6-4, 6-2.

Another Indian, Leander Paes, who is partnering David Rikl, will face Rick Leach and Brian MacPhie of the United States in a second round men's doubles match on court 7 later on Saturday.

Bhupathi won the doubles title at Roland Garros with Leander Paes in 1999 and 2001, while Mirnyi's best showing at the venue is a semi-final appearance with Bhupathi in 2002.

This year, Bhupathi and Mirnyi won the Estoril Open and Monte Carlo Masters. Bhupathi was also a finalist in the Sydney tournament, partnering Joshua Eagle of Australia, and at the Hamburg Masters, partnering Mirnyi.

Mirnyi won the Miami Masters, partnering Roger Federer.

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