The second seeded Israelis, who are making their fourth Monte-Carlo appearance, have now won 15 of their last 17 matches beginning with their Australian Open title run in January. They also clinched the title at the first ATP Masters Series event of the season, the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells.

Erlich and Ram next face three-time Monte-Carlo champion Jonas Bjorkman and partner Kevin Ullyett. The No. 8 seeds toughed out a 6-7(7), 7-5, 10-7 win over Polish duo Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in one hour and 50 minutes.

Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles (pictured), who enter the week at No. 2 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, enjoyed a 6-4, 6-3 win in their opening match against Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa.

The Indian-Bahamian duo improves to a 20-5 season record, including wins in 14 of their last 16 matches. They won back-to-back titles in Memphis and Dubai, and last month reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells and the final at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

In the quarterfinals, they will confront No. 5 seeds and reigning US Open champions Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle, 6-2, 7-6(3) winners over Novak Djokovic and Radek Stepanek. Aspelin and Knowle will be looking to reach the Monte-Carlo semifinals for the second straight year.

The new pairing of Frantisek Cermak and Philipp Kohlschreiber scored an upset over Czech No. 6 seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner, 5-7, 6-4, 10-5 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo. Nadal and Robredo defeated No. 3 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic on Tuesday.