www.expressindia.com - Weather | Horoscope | Stocks | RSS
expressindia web city
HomeBlogsCricketAstrologyShopping TendersClassifieds Opinions Jobs Hotels
Sign In / Register | Archive
Expressindia » Story

Bhupathi-Knowles in finals of Sony Ericsson Open

Font Size

Agencies

Posted: Apr 04, 2008 at 0858 hrs IST

Miami, April: Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles saved three match points en route to a thrilling win over Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner that has set them up against top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the finals of the USD 3,77,0000 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Bhupathi and Knowles beat their sixth seeded Czech rivals 7-6(5) 4-6 11-9 to secure their fourth consecutive match tie-break victory.

The Indo-Bahamas pair saved three match points in the match tie-break.

The fourth seeds trailed 6-9 before reeling off five straight points to win the one hour and 50 minute battle.

They will face off against defending champions Bryan brothers after the Americans eased into their third straight Miami final with a 6-1 6-4 win over unseeded South Africans Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie.

In a nerve wracking contest, both teams exchanged breaks in the opening set before Bhupathi and Knowles won the tie-break 7-5.

Damm and Vizner came back strongly in the second set and broke for a 4-2 lead but lost serve in the ninth game when Damm was broken.

But the Czechs broke back to level the match.

In a see-saw match tie-break, Bhupathi and Knowles led 4-3 before falling behind 6-9.

However, Damm and Vizner messed up their chances by losing two points on their own serve. Bhupathi and Knowles then held both serves before clinching the victory in the 20th point of the match tie-break.

Knowles, who enters his fourth Miami final with a 38-14 career mark at the tournament, won the title in 2002 with Canadian Daniel Nestor and reached finals in 1994 and '97.

Bhupathi has never advanced past the quarterfinals in eight previous appearances.

Knowles is attempting to become the 20th player in the Open Era to win 50 career doubles titles while Bhupathi is trying to win his 44th career title.

The Bryans, on the other hand, will be pursuing their first title of the 2008 season after runner-up finishes at Sydney, San Jose, Las Vegas and Delray Beach.

Bhupathi and Knowles, who have won 14 of the last 15 matches, won back-to-back titles in Memphis and Dubai without dropping a set before their 10-match winning streak ended in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells to eventual champions Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

Discuss this story on expressindia forums
Post Comments
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
Message*
Characters remaining
 
TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.

Latest News

Business

Showbiz

Sports

Over Rs 14 cr missing in name of Naxal war in Jharkhand

Nilekani leaves his identity at Infosys to give one to all Indians

Hooch toll 95; protests hit Ahmedabad

We know talks are important, but end violence first: India to Pak

J-K police arrest cross-LoC trader for 'hawala payments to militants'

MCI calls for one all-India entrance test for MBBS

China objected to ADB funds for Arunachal: Krishna to RS

More
© 2009 The Indian Express Limited. All rights reserved
The Indian Express Group | Advertise With Us | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Work With Us | Site Map