Indian ace Mahesh Bhupathi shrugged off his Olympic Games disappointment to record a thrilling first round victory in the men's doubles at the US Open tennis championships in New York on Wednesday.
Bhupathi, pairing with Belarussian Max Mirnyi, overcame rusty form to defeat the Argentine pair of Martin Garcia and Sebastian Prieto 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) at Flushing Meadows.
The fourth seeded Indo-Belarussian pair will take on the winner of the Rainer Schuettler of Germany/Mikhail Youzhny of Russia vs Argenita's Federico Browne/Guillermo Canas tie.
Schuettler was in the German doubles combination that stopped Bhupathi and Leander Paes's pursuit of an Olympic gold medal in the semi-finals in Athens last month.
Paes too will have a chance to avenge his Athens defeat when he teams with the Czech Republic's David Rikl against the Croatian duo of Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic in the first round clash.