Rogers Cup: Bhupathi-Knowles in quarterfinals

Montreal, Canada:

Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles edged past Jeff Coetzee and Jurgen Melzer 7-6(2), 6-4 to book a quarter-final berth in the Rogers Cup, an ATP Masters 1000 tournament here.

The Indo-Bahamian pair had to battle for one hour and 27 minutes to dispatch a fighting South African-Austrian pair in the second round last night.

Holding the serve was focal point in Bhupathi-Knowles victory as they saved as many as 10 breakpoints in the match and did not drop their serve even once.

They will now face Polish sixth seed pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who got a walkover in their second round.

Bhupathi has claimed more doubles titles at the Rogers Cup than any other players in the Open Era.

He won his first of the four titles on his tournament debut in 1997 with fellow Indian Leander Paes.

He then won back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004 along with Max Mirnyi and Paes rspectively. He then reclaimed the crown in 2007 with Pavel Vizner.