Paes, Zimonjic advance

Leander Paes and his doubles partner Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Montenegro advanced to the second round of the Madrid Masters with a hard fought win over the American duo of Taylor Dent and Robby Ginepri.

The 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(4) victory at the eighth Masters series event of the year boosted their chances of qualifying for the season ending Tennis Maters Cup in Shanghai. Paes and Zimonjic are currently sixth in the ATP Doubles Race.

The Indian ace and his partner breezed through the first set with the loss of only one game but Dent and Ginepri came roaring back to take the second with an identical margin to push the encounter played at the Madrid Arena into a decider.

The third set was closely contested and went to the tie-breaker where Paes and Zimonjic kept their cool to edge it 7-4, according to information received in New Delhi.

Dent and Ginepri were filling in as alternates in the draw after Rafael Nadal and Feliciano Lopez withdrew from the doubles due to a knee injury troubling the second ranked singles player in the world.

The other Indian stalwart in the draw, Mahesh Bhupathi teams up with Martin Damm of the Czech Republic to take on the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, in the first round.

If they get through the tough encounter, the Indian Davis Cup teammates will face each other in the next round.