Leander Paes of India and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic had to dig deep into their reserves to overcome the Russian pair of Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov in the first round of the USD 2-million ATP Tennis Masters series event in Rome.
Paes and Stepanek weathered a tough opening set to beat the mercurial Safin and his compatriot 7-5, 6-3 on Tuesday to advance to the second round where they will take on top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the US.
Mahesh Bhupathi and South African Wesley Moodie, seeded eighth, had a bye in the first round.
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