Sania, Bhupathi moves on, Bopanna ousts Paes in doubles

Melbourne, Jan 20 (UNI) Sania Mirza whose impressive run in the singles ended after a brave fight against Venus Williams, managed to keep her hopes alive in doubles as she advanced to the third round of Australian Open here today.

However, Leander Paes and Paul Hanley, seeded fifth, received a major upset by Rohan Bopanna and Rajeev Ram in men's doubles.

Sania and her Australian partner Alicia Molik defeated Russia's Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina 6-3 5-7 6-4 in a rain affected match.

The Indo-Australian pair will be up against the 12th seeds Belarus' Victoria Azarenka and Israeli Shahar Peer who ousted the Swiss pair of Emmanuelle Gagliardi and Patty Schnyder 6-3 6-3.

Meanwhile, Bopanna and Ram proved a little too good for Paes and Hanley 6-3 3-6 7-6 (6) in the second round of men's doubles.

Bopanna and Ram will now take on the South African pair of Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie in the third round.

Sania's doubles partner Alicia Molik paired with Nathan Healy to go down 6-1 6-4 against Sania who partnered Mahesh Bhupathi in mixed doubles.

The Sania-Bhupathi pair will now lock horns against second seeds Lisa Raymond and Simon Aspelin in the pre-quarterfinals and is expected to face a tough challenge.

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