Paes, Bhupathi to cross swords in Wimbledon mixed doubles

India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be on the opposite sides of the net in the Wimbledon mixed doubles third round on Monday.

The 1999 Wimbledon men's doubles champions have run into each other after clearing their second round matches on Saturday.

Bhupathi with compatriot Sania Mirza beat Britons Colin Fleming and Sarah Borwell 7-6 (4), 6-4 on Saturday. The 13th-seeded Bhupathi and Sania are the Australian Open mixed doubles champions.

Paes is partnering Zimbabwean Cara Black, with whom he won the US Open mixed doubles last year. The top seeded pair, who received a bye in the first round, is yet to play a match in the tournament after they received a walkover from Slovakian Michal Mertinak and Italian Mara Santangelo.

This is the third time in the tournament that Bhupathi will clash with a fellow Indian. He and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas will meet Prakash Amritraj and Pakistan's Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi in the men's doubles third round on Monday. Earlier, the fourth-seeded pair had beaten Somdev Devvarman and South African Kevin Anderson in the first round.

Paes and Bhupathi, besides winning the Wimbledon men's doubles title together, have won the mixed doubles title here twice before.