It’s been 24 years since he made his Australian Open debut, yet India’s Leander Paes has shown no signs of slowing down. The 44-year-old Paes teamed up with 32-year-old countryman Purav Raja for a hard-fought second-round win over 2016 champions Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares on Saturday in Melbourne, edging the fifth seeds 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(6) after two hours and 54 minutes. Paes and Raja saved a match point at 5/6 in the decisive tie-break.
Paes and Raja’s best results since joining forces ahead of the US Open have come on the ATP Challenger Tour, with a pair of titles last November in the United States. They will look to continue their run in Melbourne when they next face 11th-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Paes is a four-time Australian Open finalist and completed his career Grand Slam here six years ago when he claimed the title alongside Czech Radek Stepanek.
"Thank you to all of you for your consistent support! We’re still improving as a team & I just want to say always work hard towards your goals. Don’t rest on past laurels or get bowed down by what critics say. Take it in your stride and keep going. Age is just a number," Paes tweeted after the match.[ALSO LIKE]
The upsets continued, as Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt battled past third seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-5. Both teams hit 38 winners and broke serve on two occasions in what was a tight encounter but, ultimately, the Aussies prevailed after two hours and 12 minutes to continue their run through the draw. They will meet Spaniards Pablo Andujar and Albert Ramos-Vinolas for a place in the quarter-finals.
Hans Podlipnik-Castillo and Andrei Vasilevski also caused a shock of their own as they prevailed in a third-set tie-break against fourth-seeded Frenchmen and 2015 finalists Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, 7-6(1) 5-7, 7-6(6).
Top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo made their way safely through to the third round, closing out a 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Australian wild cards Max Purcell and Luke Saville. Kubot and Melo made a strong start to their 2018 ATP World Tour campaign, winning the Sydney International last week. They will meet No. 16 seeds Rajeev Ram and Divij Sharan for a place in the quarter-finals.
There was also a win for 15th seeds Marcin Matkowski and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi as they beat Robert Lindstedt and Franko Skugor 7-6(4), 6-4 to book a third round meeting with Radu Albot and Hyeon Chung. Defending champions and second seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers bowed out in their second-round match Friday against Albot and Chung. READ MORE
