By IANS
Dubai : Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles moved into the semi-finals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships when they outplayed Feliciano Lopez and Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-1 Thursday.
Bhupathi and Knowles, who last week won the double title in Memphis and second in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race will play second seeds and reigning US Open champions Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle in the semi-finals.
All four seeded teams have advanced to the Dubai semi-finals.
Meanwhile wild cards Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi took top seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic into three sets before going down 6-3, 5-7 (5), 6-10 in another quarterfinal.
Nestor and Zimonjic converted just one break point in the match and dropped serve three times, but came through in the deciding tiebreak.
Nestor and Zimonjic, who have teamed up permanently for the first time this season, are seeking their first title of the year. They reached the Australian Open quarterfinals, but had only a modest 4-4 record on the year before this week.
Nestor and Zimonjic will play third seeds Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner, who on Thursday defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber and Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 7-5.
Bopanna and Qureshi entered the quarters with a win over Igor Andreev (RUS) and Paul Henri Mathieu (FRA) 7-5, 6-4.
Leander Paes and Paul Hanley (AUS) had lost in the first round to Simon Aspelin (SWE) and Julian Knowle (AUT) 1-6, 3-6.
Results:
Men’s Doubles Quarterfinal
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) and Mark Knowles (BAH) beat Feliciano Lopez (SPN) / Rafael Nadal (SPN) 6-1,6-1;
Rohan Bopanna (IND) /Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) lost to Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-10
Earlier in the first round, Bhupathi and Knowles beat Jordan Kerr (AUS) and Rogier Wassen (NED) 6-4, 6-3.