09 January,2011 08:54 AM IST | | Naoshirvan Vakil
Paes and Bhupathi made to sweat in semi-final victory over Croatians Cilic-Dodig
The crowd received a big shock as Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka doused the hopes of top seed Tomas Berdych in the men's singles semifinals, but Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi did not let that jinx continue as they battled their way into the doubles final of the Chennai Tennis Open at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium.
The fabled Indian Express are in line for another title as they struggled to a 6-1, 6-7 (3), 10-5 win over the Croation duo of Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig.
"Chennai rocks!" Paes screamed to the crowd after the victory.
"This is the best place to play tennis and you bring out the best in us. I wish we could take all of you to the Australian Open.''
Paes and Bhupathi had to be sharp as Cilic was returning superbly and Paes's deft crosscourt volleys often had the lanky Cilic scrambling to get to the ball.
However, after a routine first set, the Croats put the pressure on the Indians in the second in the tie-break Cilic jumped all over Paes and made two smashing returns.
The super tie-break was one-way traffic as Paes-Bhupathi targetted Dodig to close out the victory. The Indians will be gunning for their fifth Chennai Open title on Sunday.
Soft volleys
"Cilic hit some outstanding returns and made it tough for us. We went for soft volleys as we knew that Cilic is very tall,'' stressed Paes.
"It's a great start to 2011 for us. We will have our hands full in the final tomorrow. Tipsarevic-Bollelli if they win are playing really well. Tipsarevic has an excellent return,'' elaborated Paes.
Mahesh Bhupathi shifted his attention to IPL 4. "Yes I tweeted that it's shocking that Saurav Ganguly was not picked in the IPL-4 auction,'' said the Bangalorean.
