Paes-Bhupathi, Sania, Somdev win doubles matches

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi rallied splendidly to make it to the second round of the men's doubles at Wimbledon on Friday.

The 1999 champions, who are seeded third, beat the Croatian combine of Ivan Dodig and Lovro Zovko 6-7(7-9), 6-4, 6-4.

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It was a good day for India at the All-England Club, as Sania Mirza and Somdev Devvarman also progressed.

Sania and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina made it to the third round after a hard-earned victory over Czech Renata Voracova and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhastan.

The fourth seeded Indo-Russian pair, which scored a comfortable 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) victory over the Russian-American combine of Anna Chakvetadze and Melanie Oudin on Thursday in the first round, prevailed 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Somdev and Japan's Kei Nishikori got the better of Germany's Rainer Schuettler and Alexander Waske 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 in another first round men's doubles match.