New Delhi, May 10: Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi entered their first ATP doubles final of the season after beating second seeds Swiss Jonas Bjorkman and Australia's Todd Woodbridge in the Tennis Masters semifinals in Rome.
The third seeded Indo-Belarussian pair overcame a tough first set loss to defeat the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions 6-7 (6/8) 6-2 6-4 at the 2.4 million euro clay court event Saturday.
Bhupathi and Mirnyi, whose best performance this year so far has been a semifinal appearance at the Indian Wells Masters, will play Australian duo Paul Hanley and Wayne Authurs in the final.
Authurs and Hanley downed top seeds Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan of the US 6-4 6-1 in the other semifinal. They had beaten Leander Paes and Czech Republic partner David Rikl 7-6 (7/6) 7-5 in the second round earlier.
Bhupathi and Mirnyi defeated French Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro 7-6 (7/4) in the quarterfinal, and Switzerland's Yves Allegro and Roger Federer 4-6 6-4 6-4 in the second round after a bye in the first.


Bureau Report