Winners of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells last week, Leander Paes and Martin Damm rallied to advance into the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters on Tuesday.

The Indo-Czech duo were stretched into a match tie-break before they prevailed 6-4, 6-7 (1), 10-6 over Austria's Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer in the second round.

The sixth seeds, winning their seventh match in a row, are second in the ATP Doubles Race, behind Mike and Bob Bryan.

Paes-Damm will face top seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, who beat Czech duo Frantisek Cermak and Jaroslav Levinsky 6-3, 7-6(4) to remain on course for a hat-trick of titles.

Earlier on Monday, the US Open champions beat Spaniards David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo 7-6(5), 6-4 in the first round.