Bopanna-Qureshi in final of SA Open

JOHANNESBURG: Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi have extended their good run at the ATP SA Open tennis tournament to the final after scoring a hard fought semifinal win in the doubles event.

The third seed Indo-Pak pair edged past fifth seed American pair of Erico Butorac and Rajeev Ram 7-6(5) 6-4 in the semifinals, last night.

In the 70-minute battle, no pair could convert the one breakpoint each they got in the first set, which had to be settled through a tie-breaker.

Bopanna and Qureshi did not offer any chance to their rivals in the second set and converted one of the five breakpoints to advance to the summit clash.

They next meet winners of the other semifinal between Steve Darcis/Kavier Malisse and Karol Beck/Harel Levy.

The final match will be played on Sunday.

India's challenge ended in the singles with the defeat of Somdev Devvarman in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Somdev lost 1-6 3-6 to second seed David Ferrer.