Australian Open: Leander Paes, Martina Hingis ease into mixed doubles quarters

Paes and Hingis celebrate their mixed doubles quarter-final win in Melbourne yesterday. Pic/AP

Melbourne: Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes and Martina Hingis sailed into the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open with straight sets win over Australian duo of Matt Reid and Casey Dellacqua yesterday. 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 Dellacqua in the fourth game to gain an early lead.

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

Paes and Hingis' domination could be gauged from the fact 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 today.