India's [ Images ] Mahesh Bhupathi [ Images ] and his partner Mark Knowles [ Images ] of the Bahamas defeated South African duo Wesley Moodie [ Images ] and Jeff Coetzee 6-2, 6-3 in their first group league match of the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai on Sunday.

The third-seeded Bhupathi and Knowles took 63 minutes to get past their fifth-seeded rivals in the Red Group.

On Monday, Leander Paes [ Images ] and Czech Lukas Dlouhy [ Images ] will begin their campaign in the Gold Group against Jonas Bjorkman [ Images ] of Sweden and Zimbabwe's Kevin Ulyett of Zimbabwe.