Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna started their doubles campaign on a winning note at the Chennai Open.

By Bhagya L Ayyavoo

The duo beat Americans James Cerretani and Travis Rettenmaier in straight sets.

Mahesh Bhupathi is pleased with himself as well as his countryman Rohan Bopanna. The doubles ace and his teammate defeated American duo of James Cerretani and Travis Rettenmaier in straight sets in the opening match at the Aircel Chennai Open that was played over two days. Rain stopped play when the Indians were leading the Americans 6-3, 5-5 late last night. When play resumed, the Bangalore players sealed the second set in the tie-breaker, 7-3.

“One match, one win, so I can say 100 per cent record, can't complain,” said Bhupathi in the post match press conference. 

The home favourites will take on Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski of Great Britain in the quarterfinal. Bhupathi sees an interesting clash tomorrow, “Tomorrow we're playing quarterfinal against a team which is kind of up and coming, They have won some tour events last year. Obviously they have nothing to lose. But we are going to play on center court with some crowd support, so it’s going to be a fun match,” added Bhupathi.