Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi progressed to the semi-finals of the Sydney International, but Leander Paes failed to rescue his 2014 season from a poor start as he and Czech partner Radek Stepanek crashed out in the first round.
Bopanna and his Pakistani partner, seeded third, faced stiff resistance from Trat Huey of the Philippines and Briton Dominic Inglot before prevailing 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 10-3 in the quarter-finals.
They now face giant-killers Lukas Rosol and Joao Sousa, who dumped the top seeded American pair of Mike and Bob Bryan 3-6, 6-3, 14-12 in their quarter-final.
It's been a nightmarish start to the new season for Paes. At the Chennai Open, he did not get to play as his partner, Fabio Fognini, pulled out due to an injury.
And on Wednesday, he and Stepanek, seeded second, were ousted 4-6, 4-6 in 65 minutes by the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
After losing the first set, Paes and Stepanek saved a break in the opening game of the second off the Czech's serve. They had a chance to break their opponents in the next game but the Frenchmen saved it.
Paes and Stepanek were leading 2-1 when rain forced suspension of play for about 45 minutes.
The Indian was broken in the seventh game, which handed an opening to Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin, who extended their lead to 5-3 by holding serve in the next.
Stepanek held his serve to stay in the match but the second seeds could not stop Roger-Vasselin from serving out the set and the match in the next game.
The winners will now take on Australian pair of James Duckworth and Samuel Groth.
Paes now heads to the season's first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, without much match practice.
