New Delhi: Leander Paes and Martina Navratilova stayed on course for yet another Grand Slam title as they sailed into the mixed doubles semi-finals in the US Open Tennis Championships in New York.

The Indian partnering the American legend defeated Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova of Russia and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-4, 6-4 last night and set up a clash with Australian duo of Alicia Molik and Todd Woodbrige in the last four stage.

In the other semi-final, top seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Rennae Stubbs of Australia will take on fourth seeds Bob Bryan of USA and Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

At the Arthur Ashe Stadium, Paes-Martina, seeded eighth, broke Sharapova's serve to clinch the first set and then won another crucial break in the second set breaking Mirnyi to pocket the match in straight sets.

Paes, along with David Rikl of Czech Republic, has also reached the men's doubles quarterfinals upsetting top seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Todd Woodbridge of Australia.

But the other Indian in the fray, Mahesh Bhupathi, pairing with Mirnyi crashed out of the men's doubles in the third round.

The fourth seeded duo lost to Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo 4-6, 4-6.

Earlier, Bhupathi and Lisa Raymond of USA went out of the mixed doubles in the second round.

In the junior boys' section, there was further set back for India when two more players went out in the first round.

Tushar Liberhan lost tamely to Russian Evgeniy Kirilov 2-6, 2-6 while Navdeep Singh put up a fight before losing 4-6, 5-7 to Phillip Simmonds of USA.