New York, Sep 1: Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi cruised to the second round of the US Open, thrashing seventh seeded pair of Elena Likhovtseva of Russia and Daniel Nestor of Canada in straight sets here.

The unseeded Indian duo defeated the Russo-Canadian pair 6-0, 6-2 in the mixed doubles. They will now take on the challenge of Tatiana Golovin of France and Bob Bryan of US.

Both Sania and Bhupathi are having a dream run in the flushing meadows, seasons' last grand slam.

While, Sania has already qualified for the singles third round and second round in doubles category, her best performance so far.

Bhupathi also booked a place in the men's doubles second round.

Meanwhile, another Indian in the fray Leander Paes and his mixed doubles partner Meghann Shaughnessy of United States reached the second round of mixed doubles beating the unseeded pair of Janette Husarova of Slovakia and Pavel Vizner of Czech republic 7-5, 6-3.

The Indo-US pair will now meet the fifth seeded Czech pair of Kveta Peschke and Martin Damm.

UNI