TENNIS

Leander Paes and Purav Raja lost to Colombian pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in straight sets 1-6, 2-6 in Men’s Doubles pre-quarterfinal match of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, at Melbourne.

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, with their team-mates, will play their Round-of-16 matches later in the tournament.

Bopanna will, however, begin his Mixed Doubles campaign today. Bopanna, the only Indian in the category, has been paired with Timea Babos of Hungary and is seeded 5th. They will face the unseeded Aussie team of Andrew Whittington and Ellen Perez.

Singles pre-quarterfinal matches will also be played today. World number one Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina are among those who will be seen in action.