Leander Paes and Martin Damm quelled the challenge of local hopes Jeremy Chardy and Jonathan Eysseric 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) to advance into the second round of the 2007 French Open in Paris on Wednesday.

The third seeds were stretched by the local combination but the experienced Indo-Czech duo ultimately prevailed over them with a good display in both the tie-breakers.

The third seeds were hardly impressive and wasted several opportunities during their patchy display. They could convert just one break point out of 10 that came their way.

• French Open: Images from day four

Paes and Damm will next take on the winners of the match between Germany's Michael Kohlmann and Rainer Schuettler and the Russian-Chilean pair of Teimuraz Gabashvili and Nicolas Massu.

Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek will open their campaign against the Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenber and Marcin Matkowski in their first round match on Thursday.

Sania Mirza [Images], who stormed into the singles second round with an easy 6-1, 6-1 win Alberta Brianti on Wednesday, will face off against seventh seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

Sania has a busy schedule for Thursday as, apart from the singles, the 20-year-old will also play her women's doubles opener pairing with Eva Birnerova of Czech Republic.

The Indo-Czech duo is up against the top seeded pair of American Lisa Raymond and Australian Samantha Stosur.