Bopanna-Bhupathi; Paes storm into semis

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 semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters here yesterday

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.

Radek Stepanek and Leander Paes

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.u00a0Bopanna and Bhupathi are 11-7 at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments which includes one final appearance Cincinnati where they lost to Lindstedt-Tecau.u00a0