Paes-Dlouhy in semis; Bopanna, Bhupathi bow out in Dubai

India's Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy Thursday cruised into the doubles semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships while Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna bowed out with their partners.

India's Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy Thursday cruised into the doubles semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships while Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna bowed out with their partners.

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Paes and Dlouhy, seeded second, defeated French Arnaud Clement and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden 7-6(3), 6-1.

The Indo-Czech pair now plays Christopher Kas of Germany and Belgian Dick Norman who shocked fourth-seeds Frantisek Cerman of Czech Republic and Slovak Michal Mertinak 6-4, 6-2.

Clement and Lindstedt Wednesday fought off a resolute challenge from wildcards Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 7-5, 6-7(5), 8-10 in the first round.

Third seeds Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus were defeated 4-6, 4-6 in the quarterfinals by Swede Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley of Australia here Wednesday.