Top seeded Indian pair Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna outplayed Adelo Abadia and Johnny Arcilla of Phillipines in straight sets to storm into the tennis doubles final at the Afro-Asian Games here on Wednesday.
Bhupathi, one of the top doubles players in the ATP list, and Bopanna went unchallenged by their unseeded rivals as the Indians scored a facile 6-3 6-2 win in quick time in the one-sided match.
Bhupathi, playing in his first match in the Games, and Bopanna combined well and came up with some breathtaking volleys and booming serves as their opponents stood watching during most part of the tie. They had to be content with breaking the Indians once each in the two sets.
Though Bopanna was broken in the second game of the first set, the Indians bounced back to break Arcilla in the very next game to level the scores. With breaks in the fifth and the ninth games, the top seeded pair took the first set comfortably.
The second set was even more lop-sided with Bhupathi, winner of four grand slam titles, coming up with some solid returns and Bopanna pouncing on loose balls to finish the rally.
{{/usCountry}}The second set was even more lop-sided with Bhupathi, winner of four grand slam titles, coming up with some solid returns and Bopanna pouncing on loose balls to finish the rally.
{{/usCountry}}A few unforced errors saw Bhupathi being broken in the third game, but they hit back breaking Abadia in the very next game. From then on the Indians hit the cruise mode and broke Arcilla in the sixth game to go up 4-2.
The Indians await the winner of the second semifinal between India's Sunil Kumar Sipaeya and Vinod Sridhar and Abdul Bablola and Sunday Maku of Nigeria.