Mahesh Bhupathi (left) and Mark Knowles during the quarter final match on Wednesday

Melbourne: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas upset top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan to advance to the men’s doubles semi-finals at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The sixth seeds beat the American twins 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) to make it to the last four, where they will face eighth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel.

Erlich and Ram defeated Frenchmen Marc Gicquel and Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-1 in their quarter-final clash.

The other semi-final will pit seventh seeds Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France against unseeded South Africans Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie.

Bhupathi and Knowles needed two hours and 24 minutes to overcome the top seeds who fought tooth-and-nail to stay in the match. The third set itself took 56 minutes.

Bhupathi and Knowles did not commit a single unforced error and converted three of the six break points they got.

They won 73 per cent of the points on their first serve and a total of 112 points compared to the Bryans’ 107.

Bhupathi is also in the mixed doubles semi-finals, where he and Sania Mirza will take on eighth seeds Nathalie Dechy of France and Ram.

There was more good news for India with eighth seed Yuki Bhambri moving into the boys’ singles quarter finals after beating Tadayuki Longhi of Japan 6-1, 6-3 in just under an hour. He now faces third seed Daniel Evans of Britain. (PTI)