Paes and Dlouhy in Japan Open quarters

According to PTI, Top seed Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy began their campaign for back-to-back titles with a straight-set win against Spanish pair of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Ivan Navarro in the first round of the USD 869,000 Japan Open, today.
The Indo-Czech pair, who won the Thailand Open last week, beat the unseeded Spanish duo 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 13 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals of the hard court event.

However, it was curtains for Rohan Bopanna and his American partner Eric Butorac, who put up a valiant fight against the second seeded pair of Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle but eventually lost 7-6 (4) 6-7 (4) 4-10 to bow out of the event.

While this might sound good for Paes, it certainly is no good news for Rohan Bopanna. He needs to up the ante, to notch his rankings a bit higher.

Paes and Dlouhy win the Bangkok throne

Paes has won his 40th ATP title in doubles by winning the doubles crown in the Thailand Open being held at Bangkok. Paes combined with Dlouhy and defeated his opponents in 6-4 7-6(4) over Americans Scott Lipsky and David Martin.

This title was Dlouhy’s 5th title overall. Here is what Leander Paes had to tell about his victory at Bangkok.

“It is special and I think that one of the things I like to do is see my partner win a lot more. This is the challenge for me because I know if he’s winning I’m winning too. I’m trying to step up Lukas, this is the fifth one that he’s won, so now I’m trying to step up his wins because then mine will go up automatically.”

“It’s always special stepping on the court with Lukas because not only does he complement my style of playing but he’s also teaching me things,” commented Paes. “It’s interesting that, after playing for so many years, to have a partner who’s also teaching me a few things is really beautiful.”

Way to go mate. Despite our criticism of you, you are the old war horse which has produced some worthwhile results.