Paes, Bhupathi advance in French Open doubles (Lead)

PARIS - Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles entered the third round while Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy booked a place among the last eight in the French Open tennis doubles here Saturday.

The fourth-seeded pair of Bhupathi and Knowles were stretched to three sets by Swede Johan Brunstrom and Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer before winning 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) in nearly two and a half hours.

Earlier in the day, Paes and Dlouhy overcame Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7-6(4), 6-3 to enter the quarter-finals.

With the games going with the serve, the first set went into a tie-breaker which was clinched by the third-seeded Paes and Dlouhy.

The Indo-Czech pair then needed just a break of serve to take the second set and the match in 95 minutes.

Paes and Douhy next play fifth seeds Bruno Soares of Brazil and Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyett who rallied to beat Czech Jaroslav Levinsky and Slovak Igor Zelenay 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6).