India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Martin Damm of Czech Republic came through a tough challenge from Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia to enter the third round of the US Open doubles at Flushing Meadows, New York on Saturday.

The seventh seeds latched on to a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (6) win.

The Croatian pair, though unseeded, showed lots of gumption and made Bhupathi-Damm fight for every point. The latter came through, winning two tie-breakers to advance in the final Grand Slam of the year.

They will face the ninth seeds, Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia, in the next round.