India’s Leander Paes and doubles partner Juan Martin del Potro were eliminated from the BNP Paribas Open after losing their opener to Gilles Muller and Sam Querrey. Paes and del Potro
lost 6-3, 6-4 in their men’s doubles round-of-32 clash at Indian Wells on Sunday.
Paes and his Argentine partner were outclassed by their opponents in all departments of the game. The first game was done and dusted with Muller and Querrey bagging it 6-3 to take the lead. In the second set, Paes and del Potro tried to stage a comeback but were unsuccessful as they lost the set and match 6-4.
However, it was good news for Sania Mirza and her doubles partner Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic, as the duo entered the quarter-finals. Mirza and Strycova beat Italy’s Sara Errani and Alicja Rosolka of Poland 6-2, 6-3.
The fourth seeds were unstoppable and never put a foot wrong on the court. The duo needed just over an hour to beat their opponents as they remained strong on serve and won crucial net points to win the match.
Their potential opponents in the quarter-final could be Mirza’s former partner Martina Hingis and Yung-jan Chan.
On Saturday, Rohan Bopanna and his partner Pablo Cuevas were eliminated by Serbian duo of Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki 2-6, 6-3 (10-7).
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