Paes-Bhupathi defeat top seeds in Pilot Pen semis

Monday, August 18 1997

Paes-Bhupathi defeat top seeds in Pilot Pen semis

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WINNING COMBINATION...Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi

NEW HAVEN, Aug 17: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi today upset top-seeded Dutch pair of Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to enter the finals of the Pilot Pen International Tennis Tournament here yesterday.The sixth-seeded Indian Davis Cup duo lost the first set 4-6, but fought back to win the next two sets and the match. The Dutch pair is ranked second in the world.

Paes and Bhupathi had entered the semifinals defeating Fernando Meligeni (Brazil) and Nicolas Pereira (Venezuela) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 on Friday.

This will be the Indians' second final in three weeks. Two weeks ago, they won their first Super-9 title in the Du Maurier Open in Toronto beating Sebastian Lareau and Alex O'Brien. The previous week they lost in the quarterfinals of another Super-9 event at Cincinnati to the world's best doubles pair Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde. The Indian pair is ranked 13th in the world.

Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced to his second singles final of the year, beating Petr Korda.

Kafelnikov, also playing in the doubles draw, beat Korda 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), and will next face Patrick Rafter, who eliminated Greg Rusedski in a match delayed an hour after a cloudburst soaked court.

Rafter, the No 8 seed from Australia, beat 11th-seeded Rusedski 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, earning another shot at a title that has eluded him in three previous appearances in championship matches this year.

Rafter remained poised while withstanding the blistering serves of Rusedski, whose serves have been clocked as fast as 225 kph.

``I guessed right,'' Rafter said of how it felt to face the big-serving Brit. ``It went my way tonight.''

Kafelnikov's win against Korda came about two months after he beat the left-hander from the Czech Republic on grass at Halle, Germany, in his only other appearance in a final this year.

It also came at the start of what turned out to be a taxing day. Kafelnikov faced Korda under an unforgiving afternoon sun, then within hours, teamed up with Daniel Vacek for a doubles quarterfinal. The match was suspended by the downpour, then resumed after the second semifinal, with the eighth-seeded team of Marc-Kevin Goellner and Andrei Olhovskiy winning 7-5, 7-5.