Mirza, Paes go through to the US Open second round

Leander Paes (right)

New York, Aug 28 (IANS)

Indian tennis players Leander Paes and Sania Mirza won their respective doubles matches to advance to the second round of the US Open at the Flushing Meadows on Wednesday.

Men's doubles defending champions Paes and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic needed an hour and 32 minutes to come out on top against Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.

The sixth seeds won the first round 7-6(5), 6-2 and will take on Yen-Hsun Lu (Chinese Taipei) and Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) in the second.

Earlier, women's doubles third seeds Sania and Cara Black of Zimbabwe had a rather easy opener to win 6-3, 6-0 in only 57 minutes against Czech twin sisters Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova.

Sania will play her mixed doubles opener later in the day, with Brazilian partner Bruno Soares, against local pair Tornado Alicia Black and Ernesto Escobedo.