They defeated South Africans David Adams and John-Laffnie de Jager 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to enter the men's doubles quarterfinals at Melbourne Park here today.

The two had two matchpoints when Paes served in the tenth game of the second set and reached 40-15. But both Paes and Bhupathi made simple volleying errors and the former lost the game.

However, the Indians didn't sit ruing the missed chances. They dominated the tie-breaker and snapped up the match at the next opportunity they got.

Bhupathi-Lucic through

Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Croatian Mirjana Lucic entered the second round of the mixed doubles event with a come-from-behind win over Martin Damm of the Czech Republic and Karin Schwendt of Austria. Bhupathi-Lucic won 2-6 7-5 7-5.

They now play Donald Johnson and Kimberly Po in the second round tomorrow.