Bopanna-Qureshi in third round of Australian Open

The "Indo-Pak Express", who had an easy outing yesterday during their first round match against Brazilian pair of Franco Ferreiro and Andre Sa, faced a tough challenge from the French duo today.

The 10th-seeded Asian duo scored just one break point in the first set to bag it 6-3, but the pair lost the momemtum in the next set, even as their opponents cashed in on their chances to return the favour 4-6.

The final and the deciding set saw both the doubles teams fight it hard to reign supreme but it was Bopanna-Qureshi who finally managed to prevail with a 6-4 win to seal the match in little over one and a half hours.

Bopanna-Qureshi, runners-up of last year`s US Open, will next play France`s Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimmonjic of Serbia.

Meanwhile, the Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will face Spain`s Feliciano Lopez and Juan Monaco of Argentina in their second round match tomorrow.