India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas defeated South African duo Wesley Moodie and Jeff Coetzee 6-2, 6-3 in their first group league match of the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai on Sunday.
The third-seeded Bhupathi and Knowles took 63 minutes to get past their fifth-seeded rivals in the Red Group.
On Monday, Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy will begin their campaign in the Gold Group against Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Zimbabwe's Kevin Ulyett of Zimbabwe.