Melbourne: Leander Paes had a satisfying day at office at the Australian Open on Tuesday as he stormed into the men's doubles semifinals with Martin Damm and then paired up with Nathalie Dechy to reach the last eight in mixed doubles.
Paes and Damm of Czech Republic upset second seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Belarussian Max Mirnyi 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in two hours.
The seventh seeded Indo-Czech pair lost the first set after they were broken twice. But the duo came back strongly and held their serves before earning the crucial break that gave them the second set.
In the decider, which lasted for 45 minutes, Paes and Damm earned an early break to go up 2-0 and held on to the lead to emerge winners.
The seventh seeded Indo-Czech pair will now take on the unseeded Polish pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who beat the US-Australian pair of Justin Gimelstob and Ashley Fisher 6-2 3-6 6-3 in another quarterfinal.
In the mixed doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi and Martina Hingis shocked second seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Lisa Raymond after they came through a third set tie-break.
The Indo-Swiss pair emerged unscatched 7-5 6-7 (7-9) 10-7 and set up a quarterfinal clash with Todd Perry and Rennae Stubbs of Australia, who beat Wayne Arthurs and Ai Suigyama 6-4 7-5.
Paes and French woman Dechy quelled the challenge of Simon Aspelin of Sweden and USA's Meghann Shaughnessy with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win to advance into the quarterfinals.
There was good news from the juniors section as well with Sanam Singh, seeded third, advancing to the third round of boys' singles.
The Chandigarh lad overcame a stiff resistance from Todd Ley of Australia to force a 5-7 6-0 6-4 victory.
Sanam, pairing with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan as the top seeds, also progressed in the doubles with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Ruben Bemelmans and Frederick De Fays of Belgium.
In the girls' doubles Sanna Bhambri and Sandhya Nagraj went down 6-4 6-3 to Michaela Johansson and Johanna Larsson of Sweden.
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