Bhupathi-Knowles survives Czech scare

The fourth seeded Indo-Bahamas duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles survived the opening round scare as they registered a hard-fought three set victory over Tomas Berdych and Lukas Dlouchy of Czech Republic to move into the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open played at the Crandon Park in Miami on Saturday.

The triumphant duo got back to their winning ways after edging out their Czech opponents 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 through super tie-break. Bhupathi-Knowles pair had a good first serve winning percentage as compared to their opponents.

Bhupathi and Knowles had a 10-match winning streak with titles in Memphis and Dubai before losing out to eventual champions Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the Indian Wells quarterfinals.

Though the total points won by both the pairs were same but still the break points conversion rate of Indo-Bahamas pair was much higher than their rivals and moreover they delivered at decisive moments.

Bhupathi-Knowles will now face Igor Andreev of Russia and Belgian Xavier Malisse in the next round. The Russian-Belgian combo scored a convincing 6-0, 6-3 win over Scandinavian pair of Robert Lindstedt and Jarkko Nieminen.

Leander Paes, another Indian in the fray, also made it to the pre-quarters after combining well with his Australian partner Paul Hanley. The eighth seeded Indo-Australian pair also earned a keenly contested victory after defeating Yves allegro of Switzerland and Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 2-6, 6-0, 10-3 in their opening round clash earlier on Friday.