leander-paes-1 London, India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have entered the semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Tour finals doubles, defeating top seeds and three-time winners the Bryan twins, Bob and Mike, 6-4, 6-2. Had the Bryans -- who had already qualified after winning the first two round-robin matches - beat Paes and Bhupathi in straight sets, then seventh seeds Austrian Jurgen Melzer and his German partner Philipp Petzschner would have qualified for the semifinals. The Indians will face Poland's Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the semifinals Saturday. In the other semifinal, the Bryan brothers play Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Canadian Daniel Nestor, who topped Group B beating among others India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who have played in the Tour finals for the first time. Earlier in the day, Melzer and Petzschner beat sixth seeds Swede Robert Lindstedt and Romanian Horia Tecau 6-3, 6-4. It was an unexpectedly easy victory for the fourth-seeded Indians over the World No 1 pair at Arena O2 here Friday and the victory gave them the top spot in Group A with two victories and one defeat. Bryans finished ...
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leander-paes-1 London, Three-time former finalists and fourth seeds, India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, beat seventh-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer and German Philipp Petzschner 7-5, 6-3 in their Group A match to stay alive in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals doubles. Bhupathi and Paes -- losing finalists to Americans Rick Leach and Jonathan Stark in 1997, to another American pair Sebastien Lareau and Alex O'Brien in 1999 and to American Daniel Johnson and South African Piet Norval in 2000 -- improved to a 31-13 match record for the season, highlighted by three titles. "I thought Hesh played brilliantly today and moved great," Paes told ATPWorldTour.com after Wednesday's match. "Especially at the net, he made some pretty cool volleys, one of them a block backhand half-volley crosscourt and you don't teach that at home." Bhupathi said: "We played a high quality match. I think it was important to start off well and we were able to keep that momentum throughout the match. Hopefully we can keep it up Friday and win through to the weekend." Bhupathi and Paes broke Petzschner to 15 for a 3-1 lead, but a well-placed backhand volley winner by Petzschner on Bhupathi's ...
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