Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek stormed into the semifinals of the US Open men's doubles event after getting the better of Julian Knowle of Austria and Slovakia's Filip Polasek in straight sets here.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Czech combo took just 74 minutes to outplay their opponents 6-2 6-4. Paes and Stepanek, who had won the Australian Open title earlier this year, dominated from the word go in the quarterfinal match here last night.