Bhupathi-Vizner through to Rogers Masters final

Montreal, Aug 12 (UNI) Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Pavel Vizner shocked top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of United States 6-2, 4-6, 12-10 to storm into the final of 2.20 million dollar Rogers Masters here.

The eighth seeded Indo-Czech pair, who had upset fourth seeds Leander Paes and Martin Damm en-route to the last four round, took 67 minutes to tame the American pair in a thrilling semi-final match that went to the wire.

This is the second time this year Bhupathi is making to the final of an ATP event. He and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic had lost to Fabrice Santoro of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in the Dubai Tennis Championship final in March.

Bupathi-Vizner seized the initiative in the first set with their sharper service and having more sting in their returns to take the set 2-6.

The elder and younger brother American duo, however, regrouped themselves and stormed back into the match by taking the second set 6-4.

In the decider, both the pairs refused to give away an inch to the other and it went to tie break. In an absorbing tussle, Bhupathi-Vizner saved two match points in the tie breaker to take the third set 12-10 and the match.

Bhupathi and Vizner now meet fifth seeds Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe who also upset six seeded Israeli pair of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 6-2, 6-3 in the other semi-final.

UNI