Defending champions Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova won their first round mixed doubles match at the Australian Open on Friday.
The fourth seeded Indo-American pair beat Chris Haggard of South Africa and Emilie Loit of France 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
"Leander played superbly in only his second match back after the brain lesion scare. He was awesome!," said Navratilova after the match.
Paes, who showed no effects of his long lay-off, said, "I grew up watching Martina playing and am now playing with her. She is a true inspiration. Thank you so much. For everybody in India, it's great to be back."
As an after note, Martina added: "Sorry Leander, but Brett Lee's six was awesome," in reference to Thursday's VB tri-series game between India and Australia at the Syndey Cricket Ground.
After an easy first set, Paes and Navratilova met with resistance in the second. Games went with serve till the defending champions were broken in the 11th game. But they broke back in the next to force the tie-breaker.In the tie-breaker, Paes and Navratilova established a commanding 4-1 lead before Haggard and Loit pulled back to 3-4. But Paes served two aces to clinch victory.
Yesterday Paes, who returned to action after five months because of a brain cyst, lost his comeback match when he and his Czech partner Tomas Cibulec crashed out of the men's doubles.
The tenth seeds were upset 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 3-6 in the first round by Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela and Spaniard Oscar Hernandez.
On Wednesday, the 47-year-old Navratilova teamed with Lisa Raymond to score a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Seiko Okamoto and Ryoko Takemura from Japan in the women's doubles.
