By IANS
Paris : Leander Paes kept the Indian flag flying high as he and his Czech partner Martin Damm sailed into the second round of men's doubles while Sania Mirza crashed out of the women's singles in the second round of the French Open.
Sania's challenge came to an end Thursday after she lost 1-6, 4-6 to seventh seed Serbian Anna Ivanovic in the second round. But she still has a chance in the doubles, as later in the day she will team up with Czech Eva Birnerova to face the top seed American-Australian duo of Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the first round.
The third seeded pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm faced some tough challenge late Wednesday from local heroes Jeremy Chardy and Jonathan Eysseric before registering a 7-6(7-4), 7-6(7-2) win and advance to the second round.
Paes and Damm wasted many opportunities during their lacklustre display. They could convert just one break point out of 10 that came their way.
Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek will also open their campaign Thursday and take on the Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenber and Marcin Matkowski in their first round.