Bhupathi-Bopanna pair enters Paris semis, clinch WTF berth

Paris: The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna booked the final berth at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London after advancing to the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Masters here.

In a winner-take-all quarter-final clash yesterday fifth seeds Bhupathi and Bopanna defeated the Polish Power pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-4. They will now be up against the Australian-Britih combination of Paul Hanley and Jonathan Marray. Bhupathi and Bopanna will make their team debut at the season finale. The 38-year-old Bhupathi is a four-time runner-up at the event, losing in the final in 2010 (w/Max Mirnyi) and 1997, `99 and 2000 with Leander Paes. Bopanna, 32, made his debut at the year-end championships last year, partnering Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. The Indian pairing joined forces this season and have compiled a 29-20 match record. They won their first title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and were runners-up at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Cincinnati and Shanghai. Seventh seeds Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer, who have also qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, reached the semi-finals in Paris with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over second seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor. PTI