Zeenews Bureau
New York: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will clash in a Grand Slam final for the first time ever after both won the men’s doubles semi-final with their partners on Wednesday.
While Paes and his partner Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy beat top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan in an enthralling encounter, third seeds Bhupathi pairing with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas thrashed fifth seeds Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram 6-4, 6-2.
Paes is in line for a rare double at the US Open having already made it to the final of the mixed doubles event along with partner Cara Black.
Earlier, supporting crowd backed the home team but Bryan bothers surrendered against the rampaging Leander Paes, who played the volley like never before.
The deciding set itself lasted 55 minutes with Paes and Dlouhy wasting a match point in the 10th game off left-hander Bob's serve.
The Indo-Czech pair raced to a 5-0 lead in the tie-breaker, before Bob and Mike fought back. The Americans then saved four match points at 6-2 to draw level. Finally Paes and Dlouhy wrapped it up in their next match point with Paes showing great reflexes at the net and putting away a volley.
First Published: Thursday, September 10, 2009, 09:17