Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy advanced in men's doubles category at the BNP paribas Open.

Fourth seeds Paes and Dlouhy carved out a hard-fought 6-4 3-6 10-8 win over unseeded Austrians Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer in the opening round.

Paes and Dlouhy will take on another unseeded team of Argentines Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian in the second round.

Earlier in the tournament, the third seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Bahamas' Mark Knowles had edged past Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn 7-5 6-3 in their opening-round match.