Top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] of India and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden survived a scare from the unseeded duo of Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic and Santiago Ventura of Spain to storm into the semi-final of the doubles event at the Chennai Open in Chennai on Wednesday night.
Rallying from a set down, the experienced pair of Bhupathi and Bjorkman kept their cool at vital moments to take the next two sets and clinch the match at 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Despite their top billing, Bhupathi and his partner were forced to play second fiddle to Tabara of Czech Republic and Ventura of Spain in the early part of the match.
Tabara, who booked his place in the singles quarter-finals earlier in the day, showed more aggression as the duo took the first set.
The decider saw Bhupathi conceding a break in the third game, making a couple of backhand errors. But in an instant fightback, the Indo-Swede pair broke Ventura's serve in the very next game, with Bhupathi playing the role of aggressor.
Keeping up, the momentum, they broke Tabara's serve in the sixth game to go up 5-2. Bjorkman, serving for the match, trailed 15-40, but scored next two points, using his forehand to find the vacuum spot. However, he allowed the rivals to break him, hitting a backhand into the net.
After being on the receiving end in the ninth game, Bjorkman perhaps could not withstand the heat after a loss in a tough singles match earlier in the evening to Justin Gimelstob and sought on-court medial aid after the game for a back pull.
It was a sheer coincidence when Tabara served in the 10th game that saw Bhupathi having the advantage of playing behind.
He settled the issue beyond doubt, scoring two successive winners and claimed the match when Tabara failed to reach a lob.
In the other matches, the Amritraj cousins -- Prakash and Stephen, lost to Karsten Braasch of Germany [Images] and Robert Lidstedt of Sweden 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, while Keven Kim of the USA and Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic beat Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark and Jan-Michael Gambill of the USA 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
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