Indian duo Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna moved into the quarter finals of the ATP Internazionali BNL D’Italia Masters series event in Rome on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Indians beat Italians Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-1. Earlier in the day Seppi had played singles for more than three hours as he beat Stanislas Wawrinka to reach the singles quarter-finals after saving six match points.
The Indians will take on top seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor next. The top-ranked duo scored a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 win over Italian duo Gianluca Naso and Filippo Volandri.
Bhupathi and Bopanna need to earn sufficient ranking points by the time the French Open ends to ensure direct entry into the Olympics doubles event. Bhupathi is currently ranked 14th in the world while Bopanna is ranked 12th. Only the top 10 are assured of direct entry.
Meanwhile, Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek were beaten in the second round on Thursday. The Australian Open champions fell 2-6, 5-7 to Janko Tipsarevic and Lukaz Kubot.
In other matches, Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski upset former Wimbledon champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 to also reach the last eight.
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