Bopanna-Qureshi enter first ATP Tour 1000 Masters final
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India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi entered their first ATP World Tour 1000 Masters final, stopping Canadian Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi of Belarus from reaching their fourth consecutive final Saturday, winning 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) at the Paris Masters.
Seventh-seeded Bopanna and Qureshi, who made their first season-ending World Tour final from Nov 20-27 before coming here, muffed two match points and saved a set point in the second set before sailing through in an hour and half.
The Indo-Pak Express won two ATP titles this season -- Gerry Weber Open in Halle beating Dutchman Robin Haase and Canadian Milos Raonic and the Stockholm Open defeating Canadian pair Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares - have a 37-23 record.
Seeded third here, Nestor and Mirnyi slumped to a 42-19, including a 3-3 record in finals. The three defeats came in the last four finals, Shanghai last month being the last big win.
Bopanna and Qureshi had seven aces and broke their opponents' serve twice.
Bopanna and Qureshi faced Nestor on the other side of the net only once when the Canadian partnered Serb Nenad Zimonzic in quarterfinals Dubai in 2008. The Indo-Pak pair lost that match.
There were no such fears this time, though Mirnyi and Nestor won four straight games to lead 5-4 after being a set and 1-3 down.
Bopanna and Qureshi could not convert two match point opportunities at 6-4 in the tie-break and were forced to save one set point at 6-7, before making it on their third match point.
"It's a tough loss but we now have to concentrate on London," said Nestor. "It's too bad we can't go there with a win but we got outplayed today."
Bopanna and Qureshi will meet the winners of the match between French wildcards Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut and Mexican Santiago Gonzalez and his German partner Christopher Kas in Sunday's final.
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