Paes-Dlouhy, Bhupathi-Knowles in pre-quarters of Rome Masters

Rome: Seasoned Indian pros Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have advanced to the second round of the ATP Masters event along with their respective partner after getting a first-round bye.

Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded third, now await the winner of match between Ivan Ljubicic/Michael Llodra and Julian Knowle/Andy Ram.Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas, seeded eighth, will take on the winner of the match between Simone Bolelli/Potito Starace and Igor Andreev/Mikhail Youzhny. Both the Indian players have done well in the elite Masters series events in the recent past.Bhupathi and Knowles have two runners-up finish to their credit in the Masters events this season. Last week, they lost the final of the Monte Carlo Masters and before that they had ended runners-up to Paes and Dlouhy at the Miami Masters. Bureau Report