Paes-Damm sail into semi-finals in Pacific; to meet top seeds

Indian Wells, California, Mar 16 (UNI) Fifth seeds Leander Paes and Martin Damm squeezed past higher ranked opponents to set up a semi-finals showdown with the top pair in men's doubles at the 3,285,000 million dollar Pacific Life Open here.

After pocketing the first set with ease, the Indo-Czech pair found the going tough in the second but held their nerves to finally triumph 6-3, 7-6 (4) over fourth seeded Paul Hanley of Australia and Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyett in the tier I tournament.

Now Paes and Damm run into world number one pair of Swede Jonas Bjorkman and Belurisian Max Mirnyi and they have to play out of their skins to have a chance against the formidable rivals and book a place the final.

The number one duo made light of Tim Henman and Andy Murray of England 6-3, 6-4 in their quarter-finals encounter.

UNI