Busan, Oct 09: Proving that they had not lost their old magic, top Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi kept their medals hopes alive by breezing into the semi-finals of the tennis doubles event of the Asian Games here on Wednesday. The other Indian duo in fray also did not disappoint with Vishal Uppal and Mustafa Ghouse too moving into the semis. Re-uniting for the Asian Games after setting aside personal differences that saw them split for the second time early this year, Paes and Bhupathi combined well to prevail over the Chinese pair of Ran Xu and Shaoxuan Zeng with a comfortable 6-4 6-3 victory.
The Indians wrapped up the contest within an hour though China showed signs of a spirited fightback in the first set.
The Indians will now clash with the South Korean pair of Dong Hyun Kim and Oh Hee Kwon in the semi-finals on Thursday.
The Koreans defeated the Indonesian duo of Peter Handoyo and Suwandi Suwandi with a 6-2 6-7 (7/9) 8-6 verdict in a keenly contested quarter final encounter.
Uppal and Ghouse moved into the semi-finals with a hard-fought victory over the Uzbekistan duo of Dmitriy Tomashevich and Vadim Kutsenko in a tussle which saw fortune fluctuate from one team to the other in the first two sets before the Indians came from behind to record a stiff 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/1) 6-2 victory.
They will now take on the South Korean pair of Hyung Taik Lee and Hee Seok Chung in the semi-finals. Bureau Report