The world No. 1 doubles combination from India faced a tough challenge from the all-American pair of Jan-Michael Gambill and Adam Peterson 7-6 (7/4) 7-5 in just over two hours.

Top seeds Paes and his American partner Lisa Raymond defeated an African team of Liezel Horn and Kevin Ullyett 7-5 7-5 to continue with their excellent tandem that won them Wimbledon title early July.

Playing in the last Grand Slam tournament of this millennium, the Indian duo, top-seeded for third straight time at the mega events following French Open and Wimbledon championships, took a little longer than required to prevail over their second round opponents.

World No 1 doubles individual Paes looked out of sorts throughout the match while Bhupathi was immaculate in his execution of returns and powerserves.Bhupathi withstood the American pairs' attack and also covered his partners' slackness with his dominating serve and volley game that helped the twice Grand Slam winners come out unscathed despite Paes losing his service game once in each of the two sets.

After Paes lost his serve in the first set, Bhupathi came up with thundering returns to earn the break back before taking the set into the tiebreaker. A perfect combination at the net enabled the Indian duo clinch tiebreaker 7-4.The determined Americans again stepped up the steam in the second set taking advantage of Paes' out-of-sorts form. The top Indian unshackled himself from his sloppy game after being 3-5 down in the second. The Indians, who have made it to the semifinals here for last two years, reeled off four games in a row to book their place in the round of 32.

There was one big upset in the women's draw when eighth seed Jana Novotna was crushed 3-6 2-6 by German Anke Huber in the third round today.