Unseeded Bhupathi, ranked 321, took out the lanky Finn seventh seed Tuomas Ketola in a good mix of big baseline winners and an occasional journey to the net, both of which paid dividends to the lanky Indian. He won 6-4, 6-3.

Top-seeded Paes, who flew in late last night, had an opponent who was in urgent need of a weapon which could see him through a couple of rounds in the Challenger level. Short and stocky Aussie Joseph Sirianni managed to worry Paes initially but the Indian pulled away to a straight set 6-3, 6-2 win.

Paes was lucky in the sense that he could get away with sloppy serving and wayward returns but would belooking to tighten them up when he meets Czech Ota Fukarek in the round of 16. The top Indian felt that his poor serve percentage was mainly due to the type of ball used here. At best, it was an average day in office for the Indian who has already crossed $ 100,000 in earnings this year.

Bhupathi who has not won a singles match after he lost to Paes in the final of the Calcutta Challenger in February this year, looked in command against the 186th ranked Ketola. Bhupathi's strength today was his returns which made up for his indifferent serving form. After trading breaks in the seventh and eighth in the first set, Bhupathi broke back in the ninth and then served out the set.

Then on, Bhupathi had to stave off a lone break point in the fourth game of the second set. Making forays to the net and volleying with relish, Bhupathi broke the fast tiring Finn in the fifth and ninth games to close out the match.

Results
Singles (first round): Leander Paes (Ind) bt Joseph Sirianni 6-3, 6-2; OtaFukarek (Cze) bt Noam Behr (Isr) 7-6 (2), 3-6, 4-3 (conceded); Gregory Carraz (France) bt Neville Godwin (RSA) 7-6 (4), 6-1; Gilles Elseneer (Bel) bt Mustafa Ghouse (Ind) 6-4, 7-5; Eyal Ran (Isr) bt Marcus Hilpert (Ger) 6-4, 6-1; Jonathan Stark (USA) bt Lior Mor (Isr) 6-3, 2-6, 7-5; Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) bt Tuomas Ketola (Fin) 6-4, 6-3; Vladimir Voltchkov (Blr) bt Michel Kratochivil (Sui) 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles (first round): Lorenzo Manta (Sui)/Vladimir Voltchkov (Blr) bt Jeff Coetzee/Damien Roberts (RSA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; Lior Mor (Isr)/Andreas Zingman (Arg) bt Omar Camporese/Giogio Galimberti (Ita) 6-1, 7-5; Tuomas Ketola (Fin)/Petr Pala (Cze) w/o Andy Fahlke (Ger)/Oleg Ogorodov (Uzb).