Paes-Bhupathi advance

The fourth seed Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi entered the quarter-finals of the $400,000 Verizon Tennis Challenge being played at Atlanta.

The Indians defeated the wildcard pair of Paul Goldstein and Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-4 in the first round match on Wednesday.

They will face Thomas Shimada of Japan and Eric Taino of the US in the quarter finals.

In the other quarter-final matches, top seeds Rich Leach of the United States and David MacPherson of Australia will face qualifiers J Knowles (AUT)/Lorenzo Manta (SUI). The third seeded South African pair of Ellis Ferreira and Grant Stafford will face Chris Haggard (RSA)/Jan Siemerink (NED) while second seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of the United States will face Gaston Etlis/Martin Rodriguez of Argentina.

Last week, Paes and Bhupathi were beaten in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters by the top seeded world No. 1-ranked pair of Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge 3-6, 2-6. Bjorkman and Woodbridge went on to win the tournament, beating Joshua Eagle and Andrew Florent of Australia in the final, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.