Melbourne: India`s Mahesh Bhupathi and Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic to enter the mixed doubles quarterfinals at the Australian Open here Tuesday while last year`s runners-up Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina suffered a shock loss in the second round.
Bhupathi-Petrova, seeded fifth, beat the Slovakian-Serbian pair 3-6, 6-2, 10-5 in their second round match at Melbourne Park. The Indo-Russian duo were drawn to meet Paes and Vesnina but the second seeds were tamed by Australia`s unseeded combination of Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden 3-6, 2-6 in a late night contest at the Rod Laver Arena.
Paes-Vesnina looked out of sorts against their crowd favourite couple. They got seven break points in the first set but could convert only one. The Australians, on the other hand, made the most of the two opportunities they got.
Jarmila-Ebden were able to maintain the momentum against their experienced opponents and ran away with the second set to secure the tie in little less than an hour.
With the defeat, Paes` participation in the tournament came to an end. He along with Radek Stepanek were stunned in the men`s doubles first round. They had won the title in 2012.
Other Indians in the fray, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, had made the mixed doubles quarters with different partners Monday.
IANS
First Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 19:07