Leander Paes-Martina Hingis pair enters 2016 French Open mixed-doubles quarters

New Delhi: Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his mixed-doubles partner Martina Hingis knocked out fourth seeds Yaroslav Shvedova and Florin Mergea to enter 2016 French Open quarterfinals on Saturday at Roland Garros.

Paes and Hingis came back from a set down to beat the Kazakh-Romanian pair 2-6 7-5 10-6 in a rain-hit second round contest, which lasted one hour and 19 minutes.

The Indo-Swiss pair lost serve twice in the first set, but in a tight second set, the they broke the fourth seeds in the all important 12th game to force the decider.

The third set tie-breaker started with the unseeded pair losing the first point on serve, but managed to win back-to-back points for two mini-breaks. They consolidated the lead with another break on 11th serve, before wrapping up the match 10-6.

Paes and Hingis are looking for their first French Open title together, and now await winners between fifth seeds Elena Vesnina and Bruno Soares and Andreja Klepac and Treat Huey.

They defeated Germany and Colombian pair of Anna-Lena Gronefeld and Robert Farah 6-4, 6-4 in just one hour and eight minutes in their first round match.

The Indo-Swiss pair is likely to meet top seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Jamie Murray in the semis.

The duo won won three Grand Slams together in 2015.