Paes-Damm pair stuns 2nd seeds, reach finals of Qatar Open

New Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) Third seeded pair of Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm reached the final of the one million dollar Qatar Open after upstaging second seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor in a gruelling three-setter.

In a tense semifinal encounter, the Indo-Czech pair showed tremendous grit as they walked away with a hard-earned 7-5, 6-7(6), 10-2 win against the Knowles-Nestor duo who had won the title in 1996 and 2001.

Paes and Damm would now meet unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny and the latter's Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic after the pair thrashed British duo of Andy and Jamie Murray 6-3, 6-4 in the other semifinal of the day.

In a see-saw semifinal, the Paes-Damm pair showed remarkable coordination and handled the crunch situation better to pocket the first set, according to information received here today.

The Knowles-Nestor duo, however, responded before it was too late. They stretched the set to tie-breaker and eventually bagged it to stay afloat but Paes and Damm regrouped well and bagged the decider to book a final berth.

Paes is now just one step away from winning his second title here. He and his estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi had won the event in 1998.

Meanwhile, it would be a treble for his partner Martin Damm who won the title in 2004 and 2004, teaming up with Cyril Suk.

UNI