By Jilawatan

Sania Mirza and Leander Paes kept India’s hopes alive as they scored victories in their respective events at Australian open 2010.However Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj ended their campaign in the season opening grand slam.

Sania with her partner Virginia Ruano Pascual advanced into the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s doubles event. The Indo-Spanish duo, seeded 10th had a win over Swiss-Italian pair of Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin by 7-6(3), 6-3 in their second round encounter at Melboune Park. The duo trailing by 1-4 in the opening set rebounded into the game eventually turning the game in their side.

The pair will next face the winners of the match between Melinda Czink /Natalie Grandin vs Alisa Kleybanova/Francesca Schiavone.

India’s Paes with his American partner earned 7-5, 7-5 win over local wildcard entrants Sophie Ferguson and Carsten Ball. The Indo-US pair will next meet winners of clash between Andrea Hlavackova/Lukasz Kubot vs Carly Gullickson/Bernard Tomic.

The Indian duo of Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj suffered a devastating 1-6, 3-6 defeat at the hands of 11th seed Swede-Australian combo of Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley in the men’s doubles second round.

Both Somdev and Prakash Amritraj have also lost in the qualifying round at singles event.