Mahesh Bhupathi and Michael Llodra advanced to the doubles quarterfinals of the ATP Dubai Open with a straight-set win over the Serbian pair of Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki here on Thursday.
The unseeded Indo-French team defeated the Serbian rivals 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the $1,785,500 hard court event.
Rohan Bopanna and his American partner Rajeev Ram had also reached the quarterfinals after shocking second seeds Jean-Julien Roger and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-4 in their opening round.
Meanwhile, Argentine Juan Martin del Potro reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over German qualifier Daniel Brands. Czech third seed Tomas Berdych reached the last four after defeating Russian wild card entry Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-2.
Nadal in quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal eased into the quarterfinals of the ATP/WTA Mexican Open on Wednesday, continuing his comeback from the knee injury that sidelined the 11-time Grand Slam champion for seven months.
Nadal, playing in his third tournament in four weeks after his lengthy layoff, needed one hour and 16 minutes to get past Argentine qualifier Martin Alund 6-0, 6-4.
Nadal pocketed the first set in less than half an hour, saving all three of the break points he faced in the contest and winning 26 of his 33 first service points.
The convincing victory came a fortnight after Nadal needed three sets to get past Alund in the semi-finals of the clay court tournament in Sao Paulo, where Nadal went on to win his first title since last year's French Open.
A week before that he fell in the final at Vina del Mar in Chile to Horacio Zeballos.
At both Vina del Mar and Sao Paulo, Nadal was the top seed but in Acapulco he is seeded second behind fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
At number four in the world, Ferrer is currently ranked one spot higher than former number one Nadal and is the three-time defending champion in Acapulco.
Ferrer and defending women's champion Sara Errani also booked their quarter-final berths in this combined ATP and WTA event on Wednesday.
Thirty-year-old Ferrer defeated US qualifier Wayne Odesnik 6-2, 6-1, while Italy's Errani defeated Canada's Eugenie Bouchard 7-6(4), 6-2.
Men's third seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain also advanced, rallying in the second set to finish off a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over compatriot Tommy Robredo.
Ferrer next faces Italian Paolo Lorenzi, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Spain's Pablo Andujar.
Nadal, seeking a 38th career clay court title, will face Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in the quarterfinals. Mayer defeated Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-2, 6-2.
The results: At Acapulco: ATP/WTA Mexican Open: Men: Second round: David Ferrer bt Wayne Odesnik 6-2, 6-1; Rafael Nadal bt Martin Alund 6-0, 6-4; Nicolas Almagro bt Tommy Robredo 6-4, 7-6(4).
Women: Second round: Sara Errani bt Eugenie Bouchard 7-6(4), 6-2; Francesca Schiavone bt Sesil Karatantcheva 6-3, 6-4; Alize Cornet bt Estrella Cabeza 6-4, 6-4; Carla Suarez Navarro bt Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-1, 6-2.
At Dubai: ATP Dubai Open: Singles: Quarterfinals: Novak Djokovic bt Andreas Seppi 6-0, 6-3; Juan Martin del Potro bt Daniel Brands 6-4, 6-2; Tomas Berdych bt Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-2.
Second round: Tursunov bt Michael Llodra 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3.
Doubles: First round: Mahesh Bhupathi & Llodra bt Janko Tipsarevic & Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3; Rohan Bopanna & Rajeev Ram bt Jean-Julien Roger & Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-4, 6-4. — Agencies