Paes-Bhupathi storm into final

TOKYO, OCTOBER 14: India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi secured a final berth for the first time this season by reaching the men's dou...

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TOKYO, OCTOBER 14: India’s Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi secured a final berth for the first time this season by reaching the men’s doubles final at the Japan Open tennis tournament on Saturday.

Paes and Bhupathi, the 1999 French Open and Wimbledon champions who have been struggling this season, volleyed back everything they received from the Chilean-Brazilian pair Nicolas Massu and Andre Sa for a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

“We played another good match. They are not a typical doubles team, but they are very good baseliners, they both hit the ball very big from the baseline, and I think we did well with our volleys,” said Paes.

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“Especially in the third set, we volleyed really well, we were like a wall at the net. That’s the way we got better.”

“We’ve been having some troubles winning matches,” said Bhupathi. “But this week, we had a lot of close matches, so I think we have a lot of confidence now.

“We are very happy, because it’s the first final this year. We’ve played only in five tournaments. We are playing well, we have a good chance,” added Bhupathi.

Paes and Bhupathi were again mobbed by the Japanese fans. The duo are popular here partly because of Bhupathi’s winning mixed doubles record with Japanese partners. He won the 1997 French Open mixed doubles with Rika Hiraki and the US Open with Ai Sugiyama last season.

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Paes and Bhupathi were also the finalists at the Australian Open and US Open last season, but have not reached a final this season.

“I’m Happy about that (reaching the final). I hope this is not the last one,” said Paes.

In the men’s singles final, Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador will take on 12th-seed Sjeng Schalken of The Netherlands. Fourth-seeded Lapentti beat seventh-seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4, while Schalken sidelined eighth-seed Hicham Arazi of Morocco 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).

Doubles World No 1 and top seed Julie Halard-Decugis of France will meet American defending champion and second seed Amy Frazier. Halard-Decugis breezed past Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 while Frazier defeated Joannette Kruger of South Africa in straight set 7-5, 6-2.

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The top-seeded French-American pair Julie Halard-Decugis and Corina Morariu clinched the women’s doubles title. The pair breezed past the Slovenian duo of Tina Krizan and Katarina Srebotonik 6-1, 6-2 to pocket the winners’ check of $ 8,000.

It was a ninth doubles title for Halard-Decugis this season, following her victory on the same court at the Princess Cup a week ago and 14th overall, while it was a fourth of the season and 11th for Morariu.