Defending champions Leander Paes [Images] and Martin Damm were knocked out of the US Open while Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] and Nenad Zimonjic followed their New Haven triumph with an easy first round victory on Thursday.

• Images: Sania in third round

Fourth seeds Paes-Damm went down 7-6 (1), 3-6, 4-6 to Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in the opening round.

Meanwhile, Paes' former partner and 10-times Grand Slam champion Mahesh Bhupathi continued a successful summer after starting the year on a low.

Bhupathi-Zimonjic, who won the Pilot Pen tennis Championship last week, disposed the Russian pair of Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov [Images] 6-3, 7-5.

The Indo-Serbian duo will face Sam Querrey and Robert Kendrick of America in the second round.

• US Open 2007: Complete Coverage

• Complete tennis coverage
• All you want to know about Sania Mirza