After countryman Sebastein de Chaunac gave Boutter a not-so-friendly passage into the final, Anthony Dupuis kept his impeccable record in India intact by joining Boutter there.

There was plenty to cheer for local fans as Mahesh Bhupathi and Gaurav Natekar clicked in the semi-finals against Andrei Merinov and David Caldwell for a 6-4, 6-3 one-hour, seven-minute triumph. They are to meet Eyal Ryan and Noam Behr in the final.

After spending New Year's eve with de Chaunac, Boutter gave himself a perfect party with a maiden Challenger final appearance. Boutter's 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-4 erratic performance was not a shade on third seed Dupuis, flowing like champagne -- sweet and bubbly.

The winner in Ahmedabad and a top-100 material according to Bhupathi, the 25-year-old Frenchman took Gregory Carraz out in lessthan a hour 6-2, 6-2, serving seven aces on the way. And if his next opponent has his way, as he claimed he might, Dupuis' final is unlikely to be as smooth as butter.``Its going to be a nice match,'' said the 24-year-old Boutter, who added he will have to distance himself emotionally from his opponent if he has to win, as he did today.

``Playing a friend today and again in the final is difficult,'' said the Metz resident who has played Dupuis once before and lost in three sets.

Boutter made up for his lack of a hangover with a nightmarish first set. He had four double faults in this set, out of the six in the match. After trading breaks in the first and fourth games, both held serve.

In the 11th game, Boutter saved three break points, struggled to get the ball in, let out French expletives with generosity and generally seemed to have all the problems in the world. He managed to win the game, though.But things settled down, and the matter was sorted out in the tie-break which de Chaunac picked up at7-4.

Having received medical aid in the middle of this set, Boutter set about repairing the damage, started by attacking the net more and ``putting pressure on his opponent'' which he had not done till then.

The result: Three breaks in the second set.He then let go a 40-0 lead in the fifth game of the decider, saved one break point and then lost serve. He broke again to draw parity at 3-3, added to the frustrations of his opponent who threw down his cap but did not lose his head.

Which was not enough as Boutter had match point with a backhand down the line and de Chaunac netted his last chance to save the two-hour match.

RESULTS (semi-finals)

Men's Singles: Julien Boutter (France, 279) bt Sebastein de Chaunac (France, 371) 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-4; Anthony Dupuis (France, 206) bt Gregory Carraz (France, 254) 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles: Mahesh Bhupathi/Gaurav Natekar bt Andrei Merinov/David Caldwell 6-4, 6-3; Noam Behr/Eyan Ryan bt Sebastein de Chaunac/Syed Fazaluddin 6-3, 7-5.