Cincinnati (Ohio), Aug 20 - Last week's Rogers Cup champions India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas survived a scare before prevailing over Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco 5-7, 6-4, 12-10, in the opening round at the Cincinnati Masters here.

The fourth-seeded Indo-Bahamian pair rallied after losing a close first set to take the second and it was a touch and go in the tie-breaker which they eventually clinched Wednesday night.

Bhupathi and Knowles next play Frenchmen Michael Lorda and Joe-Wilfried Tsonga who knocked out fifth seed Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett 6-0, 6-3 in the second round as the Brazilian-Zimbabwean duo's recent woes continued, losing their fifth straight match.

Bhupathi and Knowles are past champions here, the Indian winning in 2001 with his compatriot Leander Paes and and the Bahamian figuring in three victories with his long-standing partner Daniel Nestor of Canada in 1996, '98 and 2004.

Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram, who lost to Bhupathi and Knowles in the Rogers Cup final, got off to a solid start at the Western & Southern Financial Group tournament as they easily beat Americans Jesse Levin and Rajeev Ram 6-2, 6-2 in 51 minutes.

Mirnyi and Ram were the finalists at the other three hard-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournaments this season.