Miami: Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas clinched a hard-fought first round win to advance at the $3.77 Sony Ericsson Open here.

The fourth-seeded duo edged out Tomas Berdych and Lukas Dlouchy of Czech Republic via super tie-break 3-6 6-3 10-5 to enter the second round of the hardcourt event being played at the Crandon Park.

Bhupathi and Knowles had put together a 10-match winning streak with titles in Memphis and Dubai before losing in the Indian Wells quarterfinals to eventual champions Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

Another Indian in the fray, Leander Paes, and his Australian partner Paul Hanley, seeded eighth, have also made it to the pre-quarterfinals after defeating Yves Allegro of Switzerland and Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 2-6 6-0 10-3 in their opening round clash.
Source : PTI