Doubles Take: Leander the legend move on

The round of 16 kicks off on the men’s and women’s sides, while some mixed doubles teams are taking the court for the first time.

For two teams on the men’s side, the dream continues by way of upset.

Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt shocked the third-seeded pairing of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. As exciting as that was, though, it might pale in comparison to the win by the ageless wonder, Leander Paes, and his partner, Purav Raja.

They beat the 2016 Australian Open champs in a third-set tiebreak to reach the round of 16. Paes is one of the best doubles players in the history of the sport and at 44, he’s showing no signs of stopping. Nor does it seem that he wants to. He’ll turn 45 this year and after a result like this, one could almost seeing playing for a couple more years, at least.

Here’s your daily look at three matches to watch as the second week kicks off.

Groth/Hewitt vs. Pablo Andujar/Albert Ramos-Vinolas: Can the Aussies keep it going? They’ve done the hard part of punching a hole in their section of the draw; now, they have to ensure there’s no letdown after such a big win. Neither Andujar or Ramos-Vinolas would be considered anyone’s idea of a doubles specialist—far from it, in fact—but they’re capable of getting enough balls back to frustrate their opponents. The Spaniards have yet to drop a set this tournament. Anyone playing Hewitt and Groth know the crowd will be behind those two. Expect the home favorites to live to play another day in Groth’s farewell tournament.

(1) Latisha Chan/Jamie Murray vs. Andreja Klepac/Rajeev Ram: Last year, Murray and Chan’s regular partner then, Martina Hingis, found Grand Slam success at Wimbledon and the US Open, winning both titles.

With Hingis retiring, Murray’s teamed up with Chan to make a formidable pairing. Right off the bat, though, they’re facing a daunting duo in their own right: doubles specialists Klepac and Ram. At the last Summer Olympics, Ram won the silver medal in mixed and has been a Grand Slam finalist in this discipline before, so it’s clear he knows the nuances of the game. If Ram and Klepac were to win, it would be hard to call it an upset.

(4) Lucie Safarova/Barbora Strycova vs. Sorana Cirstea/Beatriz Haddad Maia: The Czech team, Olympic bronze medal winners and Fed Cup champions multiple times over, have dropped only seven games in their first two matches. Cirstea and Haddad Maia are coming off an upset over the 15th seeds, Alijca Rosolska and Abigail Spears, but their brief run could meet its end as Safarova goes for her second Australian doubles title in a row and third overall.

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