Sania, Bhupathi in doubles second round

Sania Mirza made light of her first round exit in the singles by advancing to the second round of the women's doubles, while Mahesh Bhupathi kept himself on track for a third French Open title by steering clear through the first round in the men's doubles, in Paris on Wednesday.

Sania, the 19-year-old Indian sensation who has leaped to 37 in the doubles rankings, combined with Slovakia's Janette Husarova to score a facile 6-1, 6-3 victory over Spaniard Conchita Martinez and Castalina Castano of Columbia.

The duo next play third seeds Anna-Lena Groanfield of Germany and Meghanshaugnessy of the United States.

Sania, who returned to the courts after a three-week break last week in Istanbul, where she reached the doubles final with Australian Alicia Molik, had lost to former champion Anastasia Myskina in the singles first round on Tuesday.

Bhupathi and Xavier Malisse of Belarus registered an easy 6-2, 6-2 victory over Gilles Muller of Luxemburg and Christophe Rochus of Belarus to move into the second round of the clay-court event.

The Indian tennis ace, who had earlier won the title twice, in 1999 and 2001, will next play the winner of the match between 12th seeds Jose Acasuso and Sebastian Prieto of Argentina and the unseeded American-Russian combine of Tripp Phillips and Dmitry Tursunov.

Leander Paes and Martin Damm of Czech Republic, who are seeded seventh, are pitted against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in their opening encounter.