Bhupathi, Istomin advance to quarterfinals of Dubai ATP event

Dubai: Veteran Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Denis Istomin erased a one set deficit to edge past Oliver Marach and Florin Mergea in their opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Championships, here today.

Bhupathi and Uzbekistan`s Istomin defeated the Austrian-Romanian pair 4-6, 6-3, 16-14 in an hour and 29 minutes to make the last-eight stage. Saving five break points was key to Bhupathi and Istomin`s win even as they committed seven double faults. The Indo-Uzbek pair cashed in on both the break chances that came their way. They will now clash with second seeded Indo-Pak team of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi.