Italians teams in the way of Paes, Bopanna

New York: Two unseeded Italian teams will be the first round opponents of Indo-Czech pair Leander Paes-Radek Stepanek and Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistan partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the men’s doubles at the US Open here.

Sixth seeded Paes and Stepanek will take on Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini in their opening match.

Bopanna and Qureshi, seeded 13th, will fight it out against Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi for a place in the second round.

Meanwhile, the third Indian participant Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean teammate Cara Black, who are seeded third, will play against Czech pair Karolina Pliskova and Kristyna Pliskova in the women’s doubles first round.