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Australian Open: Paes-Stepanek advance, Bopanna-Qureshi ousted

January 19, 2014 12:34 IST

Veteran Indian star Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek sailed into the Australian Open quarter-finals after a straight-set win over the unseeded pair of Yuki Bhambri and Michael Venus in the men's doubles competition in Melbourne on Sunday.

Fifth seeds Paes and Stepanek hit 25 winners en route their 6-3, 6-2 win, in a match lasting 65 minutes.

The Indo-Czech pair broke their opponents three times to book their berth in the last-eight stage of the tournament.

Paes and Stepanek are looking to win the Australian Open title for the second time, following their victory in 2012 over Bryan brothers.

Meanwhile, the seventh seeded pair of India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi endured a shocking defeat against the 12th seeded duo of Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot to crash out of the men's doubles event.

The Filipino-British pair of Huey and Inglot scored an upset 6-4, 7-6(1) win over last week's Sydney finalists Bopanna and Qureshi in the top half of the draw.

Huey-Inglot sent down 10 aces and hit 35 winners to set up a potential quarter-final duel with top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan.

In the junior girls' singles event, India's Dhruthi Tatachar Venugopal lost 3-6, 3-6 to Germany's Katie Boulter.

In the junior boys' doubles first round, the eighth seeded pair of India's Sumit Ngal and Korea's Hyeon Chung went down to the Spanish duo of Martinez Portero and Munar Clar 3-6, 6-7.

Image: Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek

Photograph: Renee McKay/Getty Images

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