Bhupathi/Likhovtseva in semis

The Indo-Russian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Elenea Likhovtseva advanced into the semi-finals of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The second seeded pair defeated the Czech pair of Petr Pala and Kveta Hrdlickova 6-1, 6-2 in a quarter-final match.

Earlier they had defeated the Aussie pair of Sandon Stolle and Annabel Ellwood 6-3, 6-2 in a second round match on Tuesday.

In the first set, Bhupathi/Likhovtseva broke Pala's service game twice, in second and sixth games, to take the set in just 22 minutes.

In the second set also they broke Pala and Hrdlickova twice to win the match in 49 minutes.

In the semi-final, the Indo-Russian pair will face the winner of the quarter-final match between Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe/Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Bob Bryan of the United States/Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.

Earlier, Leander Paes and Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands lost to the Argentine pair of Gaston Etlis and Paola Suarez 4-6, 7-6(7-0), 6-7(5-10) in their second round match.