Paes-Stepanek in quarters of Indian Wells Masters

Indian Wells (USA): Australian Open winners Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek saw off a stiff resistance from Juan Monaco and Kei Nishikori to advance to the quarter-finals of the ATP Indian Wells Masters here.

The seventh-seeded Indo-Czech pair scored a tough 7-6(5), 6-4 win in the second round over their unseeded opponents. They will now fight it out with giant-killing Spanish pair of Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal for a place in the last-four stage. Lopez and Nadal had knocked out third seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in their opening round. The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna had suffered a first round exit in the USD 4,694,969 hard court event. They had lost to French pair of Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. PTI