The seventh seeded pair of Indian veteran Leander Paes and Austrian Alexander Peya advanced to the French Open second round after notching a three-set victory in their opening men's doubles match at the Roland Garros in Paris.
Paes-Peya defeated Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3 in a contest lasting a little over two hours.
They will now face the unseeded Russian-Uzbek combination of Mikhail Elgin and Denis Istomin, who got the better of the Belarus pair of Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0).
Paes-Peya made a resounding start and quite literally ran away with the opening set, taking just 27 minutes to seal it after converting three of the four break-points they earned.
The seventh seeds were broken once but had the upperhand with a better first serve winning percentage.
The Italians fought their way back in the second set, saving a couple of break-points to take it to a tie-breaker, which they won easily.
But Bolelli-Fognini ran out of steam in the decider, failing to convert even one of the three break-points they earned.
The Indo-Austrian combine, meanwhile, got the crucial break of serve and that proved decisive as the seventh seeds emerged triumphant.
On Thursday, the Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi-Rohan Bopanna crashed out after losing to the French duo of Marc Gicquel and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the opening round.
The sixth-seeded Indians were shocked by the unseeded Frenchmen, who rallied from a set down to win 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 35 minutes.
The shock exit dented Bhupathi (ranked 13) and Bopanna's (ranked 12) chances of participation in the Olympics, as they need to be in top-10 before the June 11 cut-off mark to make a direct entry into the men's doubles event.
