Bhupathi-Knowles in Cincinnati semis

Fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair beat Fish and Isner 7-5 6-7 (5) 12-10 to advance to the semis where they will be up against top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan.

Fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles advanced to the semifinals of the Cincinnati masters with a hard-fought three-set win over American wild cards John Isner and Mardy Fish in Cincinnati.

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Bhupathi and Knowles beat Fish and Isner 7-5 6-7 (5) 12-10 to advance to the semis where they will be up against top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan.

The Bryan brothers beat the eighth seeded Polish pair of Marcin and Mariusz Fyrstenberg 6-4 7-6 (0).

In contrast, Bhupathi and Knowles had to ward off a stiff challenge from their wild-card opponents.

Fish and Isner showed that they were no pushovers and had a better first serve percentage in the opening set. But the experienced Indo-Bahamian pair survived the scare to go one-up after getting a crucial break.

However, Fish and Isner fought back in the second set and though they failed to convert even one of the six break points they earned, the Americans managed to outwit their fancied rivals to take the match into the super tie-breaker.

However, the fourth seeds got their act together in the decider to come out trumps after almost a two-hour battle.