India's Leander Paes found some consolation as he progressed into the mixed doubles second round after he and partner Martin Damm crashed out of the men's doubles at the Australian Open on Sunday.

Paes and Samantha Stosur of Australia, seeded third, romped to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Yves Allegro of Switzerland and Elena Bovina of Russia.

Earlier, fifth seeds Paes-Damm went down 5-7, 6-7 (7) to French pair Nicholas Mahut and Julien Benneteau in a third round contest.

The US Open champions had a set point at 7-6 in the second set tie-break, but the Frenchmen fought back to win the next three points and wrap the match in two hours and six minutes

Paes' former partner, Mahesh Bhupathi however scraped into the third round of the men's doubles.
Bhupathi and Czech partner Radek Stepanek defeated ninth seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner of Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to move into the third round.

The duo will take on seventh seeded Israeli pair of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram next.