French Open: Bhupathi, Sania advance to mixed double quarters

Paris, June 3 (IANS) India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza advanced to the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles at the French Open with a straight sets victory over French combine Virginie Razzano and Nicolas Devilder here Sunday.

Despite making more double faults and unforced errors the number seven-seeds prevailed over the unseeded French pair 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in an hour-and-20-minutes.

Bhupathi and Sania dominated the match getting 61 percent of their serves in and it was a matter of time before the French gave in. The Indian pair will play second seeds Mike Bryan and Kveta Peschke next.

India's other remaining hope at Roland Garros is the mixed doubles team of Leander Paes and his Russian partner Elena Vesnina. The fifth seeded India-Russian pair beat French pair Mathilde Johansson and Marc Gicquel 6-2, 6-0 Saturday and they will face top seeds Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Leizel Huber of the US in the quarters.

It was a nightmarish championship for the Indians. Sixth seeds Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna lost in the doubles first round to French pair of Marc Gicquel and Edouard Roger-Vasselin Thursday while Sania and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands crashed out of the women's doubles Tuesday.

Bopanna, partnering American Lisa Raymond, lost to the unseeded team of Natalie Grand in of South Africa and Australian Paul Hanley in the opening round.