Melbourne Jan 18 (IANS) Veteran Leander Paes and fellow Indian Purav Raja defeated N. Basilashvili and A. Haider-Maurer in straight sets in the first round of the men s doubles competition at the Australian Open tennis tournament here on Thursday.
The Indian combination did not face too much trouble from their European opponents as they eased to a 6-2 6-3 win.
The Indians will be up against J. Murray of Britain and Brazil s B. Soares in the second round.
Murray and Soares had beaten the American pair of D. Young and F. Tiafoe in the opening round on Wednesday.
--IANS
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