Bhupathi-Bopanna enter Italian Open quarters

Rome: The Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna moved into the men's doubles quarter-finals of the Internazionali BNL D'Italia tennis tournament, beating Italians Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-1 in the first round.

The Indians took just 37 minutes to get the better of their opponents. Bhupathi and Bopanna saved all five break points, while they managed to convert four out of five they earned.

After Thursday's win, the Indians will now face top seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor, who clawed their way into the Italian Open quarter-finals after a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 win over Italian duo Gianluca Naso and Filippo Volandri.

The Indian duo beat Italians Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-1 in the first round.

Polish duo Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who last week won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Madrid, also needed three sets on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals.

The Poles upset former Wimbledon champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 after firing six aces and cropping just four points on first serve.

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