Paris, June 1 (IANS) Leander Paes and his new partner Alexander Peya entered the men’s doubles second round at the French Open tennis tournament here, defeating Italy’s Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
The seventh seeds beat the Italians 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 in the first round Thursday. The Indo-Austrian duo next meet the Russian-Uzbek combine of Mikhail Elqin and Denis Istomin Saturday.
Paes-Peya looked set to wrap up the match in straight sets before the unseeded pair fought back to clinch the second set tie-breaker 7-2.
The decider also saw a tough fight but Paes-Peya managed to break their opponents on their third attempt in the set to seal the deal.
Overall, Paes-Peya converted five of their 10 break points while Elqin-Istomin cashed in twice on six opportunities.
Sixth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi of India were knocked out of the competition earlier in the day.
