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Bhupathi back with a bang

Shailesh Soni

Former world doubles No.1 Mahesh Bhupathi returned to the court after undergoing shoulder surgery to score a fluent victory in the first round of the $320,000 Orlando Disney US Claycourt Championships, on Wednesday.

Bhupathi, who was out of the tennis action since last December, paired with Wayne Arthurs. The third seeds beat the unseeded pair of Lan Bale and Michael Hill 6-4, 6-1.

Bale and Hill are decent doubles players on the circuit, but were unable to create any impression on the Indian-Aussie combination. Bhupathi looked in good shape right through and showed no signs of pain or discomfort in his shoulder as he served well and generated good speed on his serves.

Bhupathi's earlier partner Leander Paes is playing with Jan Siemrink. They are unseeded and will face qualifiers Mark Merklein and Michael Sell in the first round on Thursday.

Paes and Siemerink last week won the doubles title at the $100K+H challenger in Bermuda, beating the second seeds Haygarth and Coetzee, 6-3, 6-2. They also shared the title at Hertogenbosch after an abandoned doubles final last year.

In the singles, Paes lost his first round match to a qualifier from Belarus, Xavier Malisse, 2-6, 3-6 on Tuesday.