Sport | Tennis
Bhupathi-Stepanek duo post stunning win
India's Mahesh Bhupathi and the Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek entered the doubles final with an upset 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win over defending champions and second seeds Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett yesterday.
- By Alaric Gomes, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:37 May 3, 2009
Dubai: India's Mahesh Bhupathi and the Czech Republic's Radek Stepanek entered the doubles final with an upset 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win over defending champions and second seeds Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett yesterday.
Hanley and Ullyett, currently fifth in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race with 125 points, played like the champions they are used to being.
Hanley and Ullyett secured a break on Stepanek's serve to go 2-0 clear in the first set. The second seeds then broke the Indo-Czech pairing again in the seventh for a 5-2 lead and never looked back to easily take the set 6-4.
However, Radek and Bhupathi had different plans as they played strong at the net and managed a break of their own to claw back 3-5 in the second set.
They survived some anxious moments to win the second set 6-3 to force the deciding match tie-break. They were off to a blistering start for an early 4-0 cushion. But the Australian-Zimbabwean pairing had managed to fight back to draw on level terms by 6-6.
Close race
From then on, it went neck and neck with none of them willing to give anything away. Ultimately, it was Bhupathi and Stepanek held their nerves to take the tie-break 10-8.
They will now face the winners of the second semifinals between top seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor or third seeds Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic.
The doubles final will be held before the singles final scheduled for 5pm.
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