{image-Leander Paes_04102008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Tokyo, Oct 4: Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy defeated Robert Kendrick of America and Jarko Nieminen of Finland in straight sets to reach the final of the 869,000 dollars Japan Open here today.

The top seeded Indo-Czech combination won 6-4, 7-6 (4) in one hour and 11 minutes in the semi-final of the hard court ATP event. Paes-Dlouhy are now on course to win their second consecutive ATP event after bagging the Thailand Open last week. However, their performance was far from convincing as they managed to break their rivals only once during the match.

They also wasted as many as eight breakpoints - five in the first set and three in the second.

Kendrick and Nieminen gave a tough fight in the second set but Paes-Dlouhy managed to hold off their challenge in the tie-breaker.

The top seeds will meet the unseeded pair of Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Mischa Zverev of Germany in the final.

UNI