Bhupathi-Knowles advance into Pilot Pen finals

New Haven, US, Aug 23 (UNI) India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles moved into the seni-finals but not before they were given a tough fight by Simone Bolelli and Andreas Sippi of Italy in the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament here.

The second seed Indo-Bahamian pair overpowered the Italian duo 6-3 5-7 10-7 to set up a title clash with fourth seeds Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa of Brazil.

Bhupathi and Knowles were lucky to have survived a scare as their unseeded rivals pulled them to limit before eventually giving up.

The Indo-Bahamian won the first set with much ease but the their rivals battled their way into the match and broke Bhupathi and Knowles twice in the second set.

The Italian duo saved five break points to make the scores level by winning the second set.

However, Bolleli and Sippi stumbled at the last hurdle as the Indo-Bahamian pulled off a thrilling last set that went into tie-breaker.

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