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Tour Finals Images: Bhupathi-Bopanna, Paes-Stepanek score
Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna won their first match at the ATP World Tour Finals, scoring a 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 victory over Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in Group B to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek also made a winning start.
It was a good comeback for fifth seeds Bhupathi-Bopanna after losing the first match to Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielse.
Lindstedt-Tecau fightback in the second set
In Wednesday's match, Bhupathi-Bopanna raced to a 3-0 lead after breaking Lindstedt's serve in the second game. However, the sixth seed Romanian-Swedish team broke Bhupathi in the sixth game to get back on serve.
Lindstedt suffered a second successive break of serve to leave Bopanna to clinch the 28-minute opener by holding service, as Bhupathi, rock solid at the net, ended a short exchange with a forehand volley winner.
As the second set drew closer to a tie-break, with neither team looking likely to break serve, Lindstedt-Tecau raised their return games. Tecau hit a forehand winner on Bhupathi's serve at 30-40 to capture the second set in 43 minutes.
Paes-Stepanek too register victories
In a Group A match, third seeds Paes-Stepanek began their campaign with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over the seventh seeded pair of Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Roger, on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Stepanek, making his debut at the event, saved a break-point on sudden death deuce in the second game. Rojer recovered from 30-40 at 3-3, before Qureshi was broken as the Indo-Czech pair produced solid returns and attacked the net.
The Czech closed out the 41-minute set with his second ace.
Qureshi-Rojer missed out on six break-point opportunities
Five points went against serve in the first six games of the second set, with Paes and Qureshi surviving sudden-death deuces in the second and fifth games.
Stepanek won four straight points from 15-40 at 3-4, giving his team the impetus they needed to break Rojer at love for a 6-5 lead. Stepanek then closed out the set, as Qureshi-Rojer were left to rue missing out on six break-point opportunities.