New Delhi: The top seeded pair of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy kept themselves in contention for their second consecutive ATP doubles title as the duo reached the final of the $869,000 Japan Open in Tokyo on Saturday.
The Indo-Czech team defeated Robert Kendrick of America and Jarko Nieminen of Finland 6-4, 7-6 (4) in one hour and 11 minutes in the semi-final of the hard court ATP event.
The winners of the Thailand Open last week squandered as many as eight breakpoints, five in the first set and three in the second, before romping home after a tight contest.
They could break their rivals only once in the match but scored points when it mattered most as they prevailed in the tie-breaker in the second set.
They will fight it out for the trophy against unseeded pair of Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Mischa Zverev of Germany, who toppled the pair Jordan Kerr of Australia and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 in the second semi-final.
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