Photo: Rita May
Mirnyi & Bjorkman

Three-time Champs Move On

No. 3 seeds and former three-time champions Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor saved three first set points en route to a 7-6(10), 6-4 second round victory over the Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. Knowles-Nestor will face No. 7 seeds of Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner in a re-match of their Roland Garros final in June.

Top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, chasing their second Cincinnati title (2003), looked sharp in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Mahesh Bhupathi and Jamie Murray. They did not face a break point and lost just 11 points on serve. In last week's Montreal semifinals the Bryans lost to Bhupathi and Pavel Vizner after blowing two match points.

No. 6 seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4, and they will face the lone unseeded duo in the quarterfinals of Serbians Novak Djokovic and Nenad Zimonjic. Djokovic-Zimonjic rallied to beat No. 2 seeds and two-time defending champions Jonas Bjorkman and Max Miryni 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-7.

Bjorkman and Mirnyi, who last year finished a close second to the Bryans in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race after winning Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, have not won a title this season.

No. 4 seeds Martin Damm and Leander Paes ousted Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Arnaud Clement 6-4, 7-5, and they will take on No. 5 seeds Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in the quarterfinals. Damm-Paes, who led 5-2 with two breaks in the second set, clinched the match by serving it out in the 12th game. They are 2-3 in finals this season, winning in Rotterdam and ATP Masters Series Indian Wells. They were also finalists in Miami.