Paes-Damm storm into pre-quarterfinals

Melbourne, Jan 19 (UNI) Leander Paes and Martin Damm silenced a partisan crowd as the fifth seeded Indo-Czech pair steamrolled the Aussie duo of Nathan Healey and Robert Smeets in straight sets to advance to the men's doubles pre-quarterfinals at the Australian Open here today.

In the lop-sided affair, Paes-Damm duo saw off their Aussie rivals 6-4, 6-2 in just 68 minutes.

The Indo-Czech duo displayed flawless tennis in the first set while the Aussies fumbled with their serve. Paes and Damm broke their opponents once and went one up.

The local lads seemed to have surrendered to their fate as they put up almost no fight in the second. It was a cakewalk for the fifth seeds, who broke their rivals twice to win the set and the match.

In the pre-quarterfinal, Paes-Damm will take on the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut who claimed 11th seeded Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Chris Haggard South Africa 6-3, 7-5 in another second round match.

UNI