Paes survives tough test

India's Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy have moved into the semi-final of the men's doubles at the US Open.

Paes and Dlouhy, seeded fourth, beat seventh seeded Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

After winning the first set rather easily, Paes-Dlouhy took a 2-0 lead in the second, but were broken in the fourth and 12th games as Moodie and Norman took the tie to the decider.

Paes and Dlouhy broke immediately in the third set and raced away to a 4-1 lead after breaking again in the fifth game.

However, serving for the set, they were broken in the eighth game.

But after the South Africa-Belgium pair held in the ninth, Paes ensured there were no further hiccups by serving out the next game for set and match.

The India-Czech Republic duo will take on the Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, who beat Australia's Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), in the last four.

Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas, meanwhile, outwitted Croatian Ivan Ljubicic and Frenchman Michael Llodra in the men's doubles quarter final.

Bhupathi and Knowles seeded third beat Ljubicic and Llodra 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 in the quarter-finals at the Flushing Meadows to book their berth in the semi-final.

They will be up against the fifth seeded Belarussian-Israeli duo of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in the last-four stage.

And a showdown between the two Indians in the men's doubles final is very much a possibility. 

Paes had more reason to celebrate as he also inched closer to the mixed doubles title with Zimbabwean Cara Black.

The second seeds made the final of the event with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-5 triumph over fifth seeds Su-Wei Hseih of Chinese Taipei and Kevin Ullyet of Zimbabwe in the semi-finals.

The Indo-Zimbabwean pair will now take on unseeded Americans Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott, who upset top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Liezel Huber of the United States 6-3, 6-4 in the other semi-final.