Bhupathi, Knowles confident of victory

London : The third-seeded pairing of Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles reckons they are within striking distance for the title, provided they can navigate today's semifinals at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals this weekend.

"We've played all of the three teams, who might come through several times during the course of the year. So we know what to expect from any of them," Bhupathi told Gulf News.

"Like Knowles said, we are playing well as a team and this is the most important thing for us at the moment going into such a big match on Saturday," he added.

"We have to look after ourselves and our games. If we execute like we have been during the last three matches, then I think we'll have a good shot to win."

Bhupathi and Knowles did not have the best of warm-ups for the semifinals, following their loss in straight sets to Zimonjic and Nestor. But that was no real worry for the Indo-Bahamian pair.

Confidence

"I don't think it [the loss] is going to have any effect. We've already won our group and we know that we have played solid and attractive tennis. We've got a lot of confidence and we're looking forward to our match on Saturday," said Knowles.

The player from Bahamas, who captured one title and reached three finals along with his Indian teammate this season, was pleased to have the doubles getting the recognition at last — not just from the officials, but from the crowds as well.

"I think when we have a platform like this, it can only benefit the game of doubles. We've made tremendous strides on the ATP Tour to try and increase the awareness of the game of doubles," Knowles said.

"There's little intricacies that are different about doubles. Singles is great and doubles has its own greatness. It's nice to have them both on the same stage."