Indian Express progress to semifinals of Chennai Open

Chennai, Jan 7 (PTI) Indian duo Leander Paes and Mahesh
Bhupathi on Friday advanced to the semifinals of the Aircel
Chennai Open beating the German-American combo of Philip Marx
and Ken Skupsky 6-4 7-6 (3) here, in South Indian state of
Tamil Nadu.
Paes and Bhupathi will meet the Croatian pair of Marin
Cilic and Ivan Dodig in their last-four clash after the Croats
saw off Thailand's Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana on Thursday.
Favourites Paes and Bhupathi were stretched to second
set tie-break by Marx and Skupsky, who came back strongly
after losing the first. The four-time winners, playing
together at this venue after a gap of eight years, went on to
become world number one after clinching their maiden title
here in 1997.
Paes, in particular, was involved in a thrilling rally
from near the net with Marx in the first game of the second
set, before a Bhupathi backhand volley broke their opponents.
In a rapid first set that lasted just 34 minutes, Paes
and Bhupathi broke Marx's service game at 2-all as the
left-handed Skupsky skied a backhand return that Bhupathi
smashed from the baseline.
Bhupathi starred in giving the Indian pair a 5-3 lead in
the eighth, after he fended off successive returns from Marx
near the net and placed a third return beyond the reach of
Skupsky at the far end of the court.
The German-American duo was charged up in the second set,
forcing Paes to send numerous returns wide. At one stage, Marx
and Skupsky were 5-4 up in the second and were in a position
to serve for the set, but Paes and Bhupathi brought in their
experience to neutralise the score at 5-all and took the game
to tie-break.
In the tie-break, the fight was even till point five when
Bhupathi netted a return to make it 2-3 and then rallied to
lead 5-3. After Paes won the next point, Bhupathi scored the
winning point with a crisp forehand volley which Marx failed
to return. PTI