Doubles R1 - Pospisil. V/Raonic. M vs Paes. L/Tipsarevic. J

Vasek Pospisil Milos Raonic VS Leander Paes Janko Tipsarevic

Paes-Tipsarevic duo advance in Chennai Open doubles

CHENNAI, Jan. 4, 2012 - The third-seeded pair of India's Leander Paes and Serbian Janko Tipsarevic defeated the Canadian duo of Vacek Pospisil and Milos Raonic 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 in the doubles first round of the Aircel Chennai Open 2012 on Wednesday.

The Indo-Serbian pair will meet the duo of Italian Fabio Fognini and Igor Zelenay of Slovak Republic in the quarterfinals.

"It was a good match, a clean match, and a lot of fun," Paes said.

India's multiple grand slam winner Paes teamed up with the Tipsarevic for the 17th edition of India's only and South Asia's leading ATP World event, although he announced this week that he would be regularly partnering Czech Radek Stepanek on the Tour in the 2012 season.

"Janko was playing a different level," Paes said of his partner. "They got a set point off the net. The fact that it went to the tie-breaker was also a lot of fun. Sometimes you need these things," he added.

"My focus is primarily on the grand slams and the Olympics," Paes had said in his official press conference at the Aircel Chennai Open.

Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who rose to No. 1 in the doubles rankings in the late 90s, announced they were parting ways again after reuniting on the tour at the start of the 2011 season after a nine-year gap and winning the Aircel Chennai Open 2011 doubles title.

Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna have teamed up for the new season with their sights firmly set on success at the London Olympics in July.