INDIA's Rohan Bopanna and Australia's Matthew Ebden advanced to the second round of the US Open men's doubles competition with a win over the Netherlands' Sander Arends and Robin Haase.
The duo won 6-3, 7-5 in a 64-minute first-round match on Thursday night.
The Indo-Australian pair, who were runners-up in the previous edition, entered the final Grand Slam of the season after three consecutive losses.
Despite a shaky start, they regained their rhythm and secured the win.
Bopanna and Ebden initially lost their serve in the third game but quickly recovered, breaking their opponents' serve twice to take control of the first set.
In the second set, they once again found themselves trailing but managed to level the score at 5-5 before breaking serve to close out the match.
As the second seeds and current Australian Open champions, Bopanna and Ebden will now face the unseeded pair of Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena and Argentina's Federico Coria in the second round on Friday.
(With inputs from PTI)
