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Indians at Australian Open: Paes-Hingis ease into quarters

Last updated on: January 23, 2017 16:32 IST

Martina Hingis and Leander Paes celebrate winning their second round mixed-doubles match against Casey Dellacqua and Matt Reid of Australia on day eight of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday

IMAGE: Martina Hingis and Leander Paes celebrate winning their second round mixed-doubles match against Casey Dellacqua and Matt Reid of Australia on day eight of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Monday. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes and his Swiss partner Martina Hingis sailed into the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open with straight sets win over Australian duo Matt Reid and Casey Dellacqua, in Melbourne on Monday.

The Indo-Swiss pair took just 54 minutes to get the better of Reid and Dellacqua 6-2, 6-3 in the second round encounter.

It was total domination from Paes and Hingis as they took control of the match from the onset and didn't give their rivals any opportunity to forge a comeback.

The Indo-Swiss pair broke Reid-Dellacqua in the fourth game to gain an early lead.

Leading 5-2, Paes and Hingis broke Reid-Dellacqua again to pocket the first set with a near-flawless show in 24 minutes.

Paes and Hingis's domination was such that they committed just one unforced error in the first set as against seven by their opponents.

While Hingis controlled the baseline, Paes was near perfect at the net, converting almost every time he approached the net.

The second set was no different as Paes and Hingis secured a break in the eighth game to go 5-3 up and then held their serve to seal the set and the match.

Paes and Hingis will now face the winner of another second round match between Samantha Stosur/Samuel Groth and Darija Jurak/Jean-Julien Rojer, in the quarter-finals on Monday.

Zeel Desai in singles girls' pre-quarters

Zeel Desai moved to the girls' singles pre-quarterfinals of the junior Australian Open but bowed out of the doubles event after first round loss on Monday.

Zeel defeated Germany's Jule Niemeier 6-4, 6-2 in the second round to set up a contest against fifth seed Serbian Olga Danilovic, who outplayed China's Shuyue Ma 6-3, 6-1.

Another Indian, Mihika Yadav is also in the fray and is up against Japanese 10th seed Mai Hontama.

In the doubles, Zeel and her partner Violet Apisah exited the tournament after losing 4-6, 4-6 to fourth seeds Yang Lee and Rebeka Masarova.

There is no Indian left in the boys’ singles after Siddhant Banthia lost in the first round against Australia's Alexander Crnokrak.

Banthia though moved to the boys’ doubles second round with Turkey's Kaya Gore. They defeated Federico Iannaccone and len Schouten 6-7(4), 6-2, 11-9.

They next face sixth seeds Zizou Bergs and Yshai Oliel.