Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] and Mark Knowles defeated Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle 6-3, 7-5 to storm into the semi-finals of the US $2,270,000 Madrid Masters.

The fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair took one hour and 15 minutes to beat the sixth seeded Swede-Austrian duo in the quarter-finals of the hard-court event.

Bhupathi and Knowles converted one of three chances that came their way apart from saving three break-points they faced to race away with the first set.

In the second set also Bhupathi and Knowles saved two break-points and broke once to ensure a berth in the last-four stage.

They next face fifth seeded pair of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe, who stunned top seeds Mike and Bob Byran 6-4, 6-4 in their quarter-final match.

Bhupathi's estranged partner Leander Paes [Images] and Luaks Dlouhy made a shock exit after losing to wild card pair of Pablo Andujar and Marcel Granollers on Friday.

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