LOS ANGELES, July 23: India's Mahesh Bhupathi, the newly crowned French Open mixed doubles champion, will meet Jim Courier in the second round of the $ 303,000 Infiniti Open Hardcourt ATP Tour event here on Thursday night.

Bhupathi beat Canadian Daniel Nestor 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/5) in the first round.Seeded second in the qualifying draw, Bhupathi beat Kyle Spencer of the US 6-4, 6-3 and Grady Burnett also of the US 6-2, 6-4 in the first two rounds.With Olympic bronze medallist Leander Paes concentrating on his training for another week in Orlando, Bhupathi, partnering Rick Leach, the former World No 1 in doubles, reached the second round after getting a walk over from Goran Ivanisevic and Sander Groen of Netherlands as the Croat was suffering from a stomach ailment.

While seventh seed Andre Agassi made another ignominious ATP Tour exit here on Tuesday, falling in straight sets to 103rd-ranked Justin Gimelstob in the first round, Sargis Sargsian, who became the first Armenian to win an ATP title with his victory in Newport on July 13, upset eighth-seeded Alex O'Brien 6-4, 6-3.

Third-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis beat Brazilian Roberto Jabali 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0). Fourth-seeded Richard Krajicek and sixth-seeded Jim Courier both advanced at the expense of South Africans. Krajicek, of the Netherlands, defeated Marcos Ondruska 6-4, 6-4, while Courier beat Grant Stafford 7-5, 7-5.

The former world No 1 Andre Agassi, who took a wild-card into the draw after losing his opening match in Washington last week, was up two breaks in the first set, but could never capitalise on his advantage. Gimelstob won the match 7-5, 6-2.

The 27-year-old former Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion has now lost eight of his last nine ATP tour matches. Until Washington last week, he hadn't played since a May 1 defeat by Sweden's Magnus Norman because of a right wrist injury.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.