Mahesh Bhupathi [ Images ] and partner Mark Knowles [ Images ] got off to a smooth start in the US $436,000 SAP Open and easily advanced to the second round of the hard court event in San Jose, United States.

The second seeded Indo-Bahamas pair beat the Czech duo of Jaroslav Levinsky and Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday night.

• Injury forces Sania to concede match

They next face the American pair of Scott Lipsky and David Martin, who beat Igor Kunitsyn of Russia [ Images ] and Jim Thomas of the US 4-6, 6-3, 12-10 in their opening match.

Rohan Bopanna [ Images ], another Indian in the fray, has teamed with Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi [ Images ]. The pair opens its campaign against Belarusian Max Mirnyi [ Images ] and Great Britain's Jamie Murray.

eanwhile, India's [ Images ] Sunitha Rao surrendered meekly to seventh seed Edina Gallovits and bowed out of the US $185,000 Copa Colsanitas WTA tour event in Bogota, Colombia.

She lost 1-6, 2-6 to her Romanian opponent.