Ace tennis champ Leander Paes was the only Indian player in Australian opens 2012, to shine in two formats of tennis the doubles and mixed doubles segment on Thursday in Melbourne. The scion paired with Czech partner Radek Stepanek reached the final. In another match, he paired with Elena Vesnina and reached the semi final in the mixed doubles category too.
The unseeded Indo-Czech pair stunned second seeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Canadian Daniel Nestor 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a marathon semi-final encounter that lasted two hours and 13 minutes. In the finals the pair shall face top-seeded American duo of Bob and Mike Bryan brothers. Paes has won six Grand Slam doubles titles with different partners but is yet to win at Melbourne Park.
During the second half of the day the six time mixed doubles grand slam winner paired with the Russian Elena Vesnina beat fourth seeded Rohan Bopanna of India and USA's Lisa Raymond in straight sets. This victory was very easily won by the formidable Indo-Russian duo. They beat the opponents in less than an hour match with 6-2 and 6-2.
In the other doubles matches India’s Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohanna Boppanna and Sania Mirza crash out. India’s only hope right now is Leander Paes. Wishesh wishes him all the best in his next step to claim the title.(With Inputs from Internet-AarKay)
