Paes-Damm pair enters semifinals of Cincinnati Open

Cincinnati, Aug 19 (UNI) Leander Paes and Martin Damm came back from a set down to upset third seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 7-5, 10-4 to set up a tough semifinal clash against the second seeded duo of Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi in the 2.45 million dollar Cincinnati Open here.

The seventh seeded Indo-Czech pair rallied from behind in the over one-and-a-half-hour long match to move into the next round and continue their good run this year, which has seen them win the Ordina Open title at Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands and reach the finals of the Australian Open.

Paes and Damm did not get off to the best possible starts and struggled with their serve early on. The Indo-Czech duo was broken once by their rivals, who had little trouble sealing the opening set in their favour after the seventh seeds wasted two break points.

However, Paes and Damm did not let the first set loss affect them much and they raised their game in the second set to make a comeback into the match. The seventh seeds saved four break points apart from breaking their rivals twice as they took the fight to Knowles and Nestor.

The effort paid off as the clinched the set to take the match into the third. Paes and Damm held their serve in the decider and broke Knowles and Nestor once to upset the sixth seeds and move into the semifinals.

The Indo-Czech pair has a 21-13 season record and is looking for their first ATP Masters Series shield. Paes took home the Cincinnati crown in 2001 with now estranged partner Bhupathi.

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