Rohan Bopanna, Florin Mergea pair enters Apia International semifinals

New Delhi: Indian doubles star Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Florin Mergea entered the semifinals of the Apia International with a straight sets win over Samuel Groth and John Peers at Sydney on Thursday.

Preparing for the year's first Grand Slam tournament – Australian Open – the fourth seeds took a little over an hour to beat the all-Australian pair 6-2 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Bopanna and Mergea broke the unseeded Australians twice in the first set and once in the second set.

Bopanna and Mergea will play unseeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil and Leonardo Mayer of Argentina for a place in the final.

The 35-year-old Indian ace had won the trophy last year with Canadian partner Daniel Nestor.