Shanghai: The Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna has set up a summit clash with Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek after both pairs won their respective semifinal matches in the Shanghai Masters here on Saturday.
The seventh-seeded Indian combo reached their second ATP World Tour Masters final of the season after beating the British pair of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins 6-7 (4), 6-3, 10-8 in an hour and 36 minutes.
The fourth seeded Indo-Czech duo outplayed Marin Cilic of Croatia and Brazil’s Marcelo Melo 6-0, 6-2 in just 57 minutes.
Currently eighth in the ATP doubles team rankings race to London, Bhupathi and Bopanna are bidding to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals by winning their second ATP World Tour title of the season, after victory in Dubai.
Paes and Stepanek had an easy outing, breaking their opponents six times.
Women’s results
Meanwhile, in another tournament, Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan beat top-seeded Sam Stosur of Australia 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) on Saturday to advance to the final of the Japan Open.
The 21-year-old Chang will face Britain’s Heather Watson on Sunday after she defeated local favourite Misaki Doi of Japan 7-6 (2), 7-5 in the other semifinal.
Watson is bidding to be the first British woman to win an WTA singles event since 1988. (Agencies)
