Serving big, ``moving better'' and sticking to a game plan, Bhupathi had an easier time than expected during his 6-4, 6-2 match lasting a little over an hour.

Frenchman Anthony Dupuis, winner in the Ahmedabad leg, beat Ofer Sela 6-1, 6-3 and now takes on Bhupathi. Japan's Hideki Kaneko gave fourth seed Lior Mor (Israel) much more than he had expected in a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 105-minute win that left third-seeded Dupuis and No 8 seed Goichi Motumura (Japan) as the only seeded players in fray.

The Japanese dropped serve with a double fault and trailed 5-6 in the decider. His opponent, Radovan Svetlik (Czech Republic), had a match point at 40-30 in the next game, which he lost after hitting a forehand long.

Motumura managed to break back, and then served an ace at match point in the tie-breaker to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).

Bhupathiadvances: Fazaluddin, a break and 4-5 down, had one chance to make amends when he had a break point. He unleashed a spectacular forehand cross and effected a stunning service return to get to that position. But the sudden spurt ended with a netted return and Bhupathi was up one set.

It was his third set point that Bhupathi had managed to convert. It was also his second match point that Bhupathi succeded in converting. He was up 5-2 and 30-40 on Fazaluddin's serve when he sent a backhand out. Fazaluddin saved the game and that was as far as he could get.

A lob over an advancing Bhupathi in the next game turned out to be the last gasp of Fazaluddin resistance. Bhupathi served an ace -- his fourth in the match -- and served out strongly to clinch the match.

A break in the first game of both sets had given him the kind of start he had wanted, said Bhupathi, and ``I did well to finish the match in straight sets.''

Results

Men's singles (country and ranking in parenthesis): Andrei Merinov(Russia, 364) bt Noam Okun (Israel, 317) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Anthony Dupuis (France, 206) bt Ofer Sela (Israel, 284) 6-1, 6-3; Goichi Motumura (Japan, 226) bt Radovan Svetlik (Czech, 265) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5); Sebastein Dechaunac (France, qualifier) bt Kentaro Masuda (Japan, 353) 6-4, 6-4; Julien Boutter (France, 279) bt Mashiska Washington (US, qualifier) 6-1, 6-4; Hideki Kaneko (Japan, 219) bt Lior Mor (Israel, 207) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; Gregory Carraz (France, 254) bt Kobi Ziv (Israel, qualifier) 6-3, 6-3; Mahesh Bhupathi (India, 379) bt Syed Fazaluddin (India, 563) 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles: David Caldwell/Andrei Merinov bt Vijay Kannan/Anthony Dupuis 6-0, 6-3; Ivan Ljubicic/Goichi Motumora bt Barry Cowan/Miles MacLagan 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.