Bhupathi-Bopanna, Paes-Stepanek in Shanghai semis

Shanghai - It was a good day for the Indians at office as men’s doubles seventh seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna and fourth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek advanced to the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters here Friday.

The seventh seeds saved all five break-points they faced to defeat second seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 7-6(7), 6-4 in one hour and 24 minutes while Paes-Stepanek overcame unseeded Austro-Canadian pairing of Jurgen Melzer and Milos Raonic 7-5, 6-7(4), 10-5.

Bhupathi and Bopanna are yet to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London from Nov 5 to 12 and are currently No.8 in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings Race To London. They will next play eleventh-ranked Britons Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins in the semis, who also remain in the hunt for a berth in the season-ending championship.

Bopanna and Bhupathi are 11-7 at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments which includes one final appearance Cincinnati where they lost to Lindstedt-Tecau.