By IANS
Cincinnati (Ohio) : India’s Leander Paes and Martin Damm of the Czech Republic entered the doubles quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters here with a straight sets win.
The fourth seeded pairing of Damm and Paes Thursday ousted Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Arnaud Clement 6-4, 7-5 and face the fifth seeds Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe for a place in the semi-finals.
The Indo-Czech pairing, who led 5-2 with two breaks of serve in the second set, clinched the match by serving out the 12th game. The pair is 2-3 in finals this season, winning in Rotterdam and Indian Wells.
Hanley and Ullyett made the last eight Wednesday with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 11-9 (pro set) win over American wild card entrants Amer Delic and John Isner.
Top seeded Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, chasing their second Cincinnati title since 2003, looked sharp in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Indian Mahesh Bhupathi and Briton Jamie Murray.
The top seeds did not face a single break point in the match, dropping just 11 points on serve. Last week, the Bryans had lost to Bhupathi and Pavel Vizner in the Montreal Masters semi-final after blowing two match points.
Third seeds and former three-time champions Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada saved three set points en route to a 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 second round victory over the Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
Knowles and Nestor next face the seventh seeded Czech pairing of Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner in a re-match of their French Open final in June.
Israeli sixth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4, and they will face the lone unseeded duo in the quarterfinals of Serbians Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic.
Djokovic-Zimonjic rallied to beat the number two seeds and two-time defending champions Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Max Miryni of Belarus 6-7(5-7), 6-4, 10-7 (pro set).
Bjorkman and Mirnyi, who last year finished a close second to the Bryans in the ATP Doubles Race after winning Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, are yet to win a title this season.