Paes-Stepanek in quarters of Indian Wells Masters

Australian Open winners Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek saw off a stiff resistance from Juan Monaco and Kei Nishikori to advance to the quarter-finals of the ATP Indian Wells Masters in USA.

The seventh-seeded Indo-Czech pair scored a tough 7-6(5) 6-4 win in the second round over their unseeded opponents.

They will now fight it out with giant-killing Spanish pair of Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal for a place in the last-four stage.

Lopez and Nadal had knocked out third seeds Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in their opening round.

The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna had suffered a first round exit in the USD 4,694,969 hard court event.

They had lost to French pair of Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.