Leander Paes got the better of his Davis Cup partner Mahesh Bhupathi, clinching a thrilling semi-final victory in the men's doubles at the US $550,000 Thailand Open in Bangkok on Saturday.

Paes combined with Paul Hanley of Australia to defeat Bhupathi and Justin Gimelstob of the United States 6-4, 6-5(6) and enter the final.

They will meet Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel who beat Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Todd Perry of Australia 6-5(5), 6-2 in the other semi-final.

It was the second time the former world number one pair met across the net this year, the earlier instance being at Sydney before the Australian Open in January. On that occasion Paes suffered an ankle injury during the second round match.

The two also faced off thrice last year, with Bhupathi gaining a 2-1 record.

Bhupathi in partnership with Fabrice Santoro of France defeated Paes and Swede Jonas Bjorkman in the final at Dubai in March, 2004.

Paes then combined with David Rikl of the Czech Republic to knock out Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus at the Hamburg Masters before the latter got their revenge in Madrid.

Paes has won two titles so far this year for a tally of 33 while Bhupathi triumphed at Sydney with Todd Woodbridge besides winning the mixed doubles crowns at Wimbledon and the US Open Grand Slams for a total of 37 titles.