Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna saved a match point to breeze into the title clash of the ATP World Tour finale after defeating Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek via Super tie-breaker on Sunday.
The fifth seeded Indian pair halted the winning run of the Indo-Czech combination with a 4-6 6-1 12-10 win in the semifinals and in the process avenged the defeat of the Shanghai Masters final last month.
Paes had said that Shanghai final was a kind of grudge match after the Olympics selection drama when both Bhupathi and Bopanna had refused to pair with him.
Paes and Stepanek’s third seed team was the only one to enter the semifinals unbeaten. They had topped the Group A with three wins from as many matches.
The Indians will face the winners of the other semifinal between English-Danish combine of Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen and Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in Monday’s championship match.
The match tie-breaker was a tight affair with the two teams locked at 3-3 and then 8-8. Stepanek served out wide to Bopanna, who lobbed too short to give Paes a smash winner.
Bhupathi saved one match point with a backhand volley and at 9-9, on Bopannas serve and hit another volley winner down the middle.
Paes saved the match point with a forehand volley winner, but Stepanek volleyed a backhand into the net at 10-10, before Bopanna, who struck a high forehand volley for a winner and it ended 85 minutes.
The fifth seeded Indian pair halted the winning run of the Indo-Czech combination with a 4-6 6-1 12-10 win in the semifinals and in the process avenged the defeat of the Shanghai Masters final last month.
Paes had said that Shanghai final was a kind of grudge match after the Olympics selection drama when both Bhupathi and Bopanna had refused to pair with him.
Paes and Stepanek’s third seed team was the only one to enter the semifinals unbeaten. They had topped the Group A with three wins from as many matches.
The Indians will face the winners of the other semifinal between English-Danish combine of Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen and Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in Monday’s championship match.
The match tie-breaker was a tight affair with the two teams locked at 3-3 and then 8-8. Stepanek served out wide to Bopanna, who lobbed too short to give Paes a smash winner.
Bhupathi saved one match point with a backhand volley and at 9-9, on Bopannas serve and hit another volley winner down the middle.
Paes saved the match point with a forehand volley winner, but Stepanek volleyed a backhand into the net at 10-10, before Bopanna, who struck a high forehand volley for a winner and it ended 85 minutes.