Leander Paes, Andre Begemann enter final of St. Petersburg Open

Paes and Begemann entered the final by clinching a straight-sets victory over Russia’s Mikhail Elgin and Alexander Kudryavtsev in the men’s doubles.

India’s Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann entered the finals of the St Petersburg Open by clinching a straight-sets victory over the Russian pair of Mikhail Elgin and Alexander Kudryavtsev in the men’s doubles event on Friday.

The Indo-German duo defeated the Russian pair 6-3, 7-6 in a match that lasted over 90 minutes. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The Indo-German duo defeated the Russian pair 6-3, 7-6 in a match that lasted over 90 minutes.

Paes and Begemann started off comfortably by winning the first set in just 35 minutes. However, the Russian pair came back with a spirited performance after being 0-2 down in the second set. The Indo-German team won the tiebreaker 7-5 despite being behind 0-2 and then 2-5.

Paes and Begemann will now face the winner of the match between Dominic Inglot-Henri Kontinen and Konstantin Kravchuk-Andrey Kuznetsov in the summit clash.

The Indian tennis ace had last won an ATP men’s doubles title, along with South Africa’s Raven Klaasen, in the 2015 New Zealand Open.