Mahesh Bhupathi and Wesley Moodie came back from the brink of defeat to post a sensational three-set victory in the men's doubles while Leander Paes and Nathalie Dechy shocked the top seeds in the mixed doubles at the Australian Open, in Melbourne, on Saturday.

Bhupathi and Moodie battled from a set down to beat Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France 4-6, 7-6(10/8), 7-5 in three hours and two minutes to advance to the third round.

The Indo-South African pair will play Paes and Czech Republic's Martin Damm next.

In a match of high quality, there were only five unforced errors from either team.

That the Indo-South African pair had one less total points won, 135 to 136, than their rivals and still went on to win the tie proved that the 11th seeds played better at the crunch.

Clement and Llodra also had less number of double faults, four as against the eight by Bhupathi and Moodie.

Also, both the sides had equal number of breakpoints won, two.

Paes and Dechy of France, however, had a relatively smooth passage against Kevin Ullyett and Cara Black of Zimbabwe, winning 6-3, 6-4 in just 58 minutes.