Paes-Bhupathi stroll into US Open quarters

Indian tennis duo Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi marched into the quarter-finals of the men's doubles competition of the US Open with a straight-set victory over compatriot Somdev Devvarman and his Filipino partner Treat Conrad Huey in New York on Monday.

The fourth seeded Indian pair prevailed over Somdev and Treat 6-4, 7-5 in a pre-quarterfinal clash that lasted an hour and 32 minutes.

Paes and Bhupathi and will now face the sixth-seeded Polish pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the quarter-finals.

Fyrstenberg and Matkowski defeated the British duo of Jaime Delgado and Jonathan Marray 6-7, (5-7), 6-2, 6-3 to enter the last eight.

Somdev and Treat had their moments in the game as the duo troubled the veteran Indian pair with their aces but a series of unforced errors and failure to convert as many as five breakpoints put paid to their hopes.

The 'Indian Express', on the other hand, made few unforced errors and converted two break points out of the seven that came their way. They also hit 37 winners compared to the 30 sent down by Somdev and Treat.

Another Indian, Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi are also in the quarter-finals and will take on unseeded British pair of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins for a place in the semis.

Photograph: Getty Images