Paes and Bhupathi in pre-quarters of Rome ATP event

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi advanced to the pre-quarter-finals of the euro 27,50,000 Internazionali BNL D'Italia ATP event with their respective partners after getting a bye in the first round.

Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded third, will face either Nicolas Almagro/David Ferrer pair or Stephen Huss/Frantisek Cermak, who will lock horns in their opener.

The fourth seeded pair of Bhupathi and Bahamian Mark Knowles will begin their campaign against the winners of Marat Safin/Igor Andreev and Feliciano Lopez/Fernando Verdasco tie in the claycourt event.