The Hindu : Sport : Bhupathi-Knowles win; Paes-Dlouhy lose

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Bhupathi-Knowles win; Paes-Dlouhy lose

MELBOURNE: Mahesh Bhupathi earned a shot at his first Australian Open title by reaching the men’s doubles final with Mark Knowles while Leander Paes’s wait continues after losing his semifinal alongside Lukas Dlouhy here on Thursday.

Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Knowles, seeded third, thrashed Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach 6-3, 6-1 to make the final of a Grand Slam together for the first time since forging their partnership in 2008.

In the other semifinal, the fourth-seeded Paes-Dlouhy pair lost 6-3, 6-3 to American second seeds Mike and Bob Bryan.

Paes and his Czech partner’s fight against the formidable Bryan brothers was over in just 54 minutes, ending Indian hopes of seeing two of its best doubles players fighting for the title. Paes has not won a men’s doubles title at a Grand Slam since winning the U.S. Open in 2006 with Martin Damm.

Too good

Earlier in the day, Bhupathi and Knowles proved too good for their unseeded Polish-Austrian opponents and it took them just 58 minutes to win the semifinal encounter.

Bhupathi and Knowles broke their rivals once in the first set and went on to win it 6-3. In the second, they broke Kubot and Marach thrice — in the first, fifth and seventh games. Knowles hit a stunning forehand winner to earn match point and the duo converted it when Marach’s shot over the baseline.

This will be Bhupathi’s second appearance in the men’s doubles final at the Australian Open. The last time he reached the final was in 1999 with Leander Paes. The title will complete Bhupathi’s Grand Slam kitty as it is only the Australian Open men’s doubles title that has eluded both Bhupathi and Paes. They have won Roland Garros and Wimbledon together and the U.S. Open with different partners.

Among the juniors, Yuki Bhambri continued his sizzling run as he made the semifinals of both the singles and doubles events as top seed.

In singles, the World No. 2 defeated Germany’s Richard Becker 6-1, 7-5. He had reached the semifinals last year too.

In doubles, Bhambri and Chinese Taipei’s Huang Liang-Chi edged past fifth seed French pair of Adrien Puget and Julien Obry 7-6(4), 6-4 in the quarterfinals. — PTI

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