Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi braved sweltering heat and a stiff challenge from Rameez Junaid and Adrian Mannarino to enter the second round of the Australian Open men's doubles, in Melbourne, on Thursday.
The seventh seeded Indo-Pak pair edged past their unseeded opponents 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5) in a gruelling first round encounter that lasted an hour and 45 minutes.
In the women's doubles, sixth seeded Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black began their campaign with a fluent 6-1, 6-4 win over Australian combo of Tammi Patterson and Arina Rodionova.
As the temperature soared to 41 degree Celsius, the organisers were forced to cancel many matches on the outside courts.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek's first round outing was also cancelled.
They are scheduled to meet against Lukas Dlouhy and Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic.
"I have played all over the world but today's heat conditions had to be by far the worst ever. Could have easily fried an EGG today on court," Bopanna wrote on his Twitter page after the victory.
"Think I have aged a few yrs after our win today... Inspite of our interrupted match due to serious serious heat.. @AustralianOpen," read his another tweet.
They play Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins of Great Britain in the next round.
Image: Rohan Bopanna (right) and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
Photograph: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images
