Chennai: Leander Paes and Serbian Janko Tipsarevic had to fight it out hard to beat 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.
Wawrinka moves into quarters
Meanwhile, in the singles, defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka came back from behind to get the better of Edouard Roger-Vasselin 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to move into the quarterfinals of 2012 Aircel Chennai Open Tennis Tournament on Wednesday.
"It is never easy playing the first match of the season," said third seed and world number 17 Wawrinka, who played out of his skin to begin the new season on a winning note and keep his title hopes alive.
"There is always pressure while playing the first few matches of the season. I am happy that I won, happy that I found all the solutions. I played better as the match progressed," he added.
Beijing Olympics doubles gold medallist Wawrinka lost the opening set rather tamely, but clawed his way back to win the second set against his 106-ranked opponent, who replaced injured Indian Somdev Devvarman in the main draw.
Roger-Vasselin went up a break in the final set but Wawrinka broke back in the 10th and lifted his game when it mattered the most to clinch the thriller in two hours and 25 minutes.
"It was a great match, unfortunately the end was not what I expected," said Roger-Vasselin.
In the quarter-finals, Wawrinka will meet Japanese qualifier Go Soeda who upset fifth seed Ivan Dodig from Croatia 7-6(6), 6-3.
