Paes-Bhupathi in Queen's semis

Shailesh Soni

French Open doubles champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi stormed into the semi-finals of the Stella Artois grasscourt championships at Queen's Club, London, on Friday.

In a quarter-final against fourth seeds Michael Hill of Australia and Jeff Tarango of the United States, which was a replay of a French Open semi-final, the result was the same as when the teams met at Roland Garros as the Indians won 7-6(4), 7-6(9).

The victory fetched Paes and Bhupathi 100 entry points each and $14.9,000 together. A win in the semi-finals will give them $10,000 and 55 points more.

Paes/Bhupathi now run into another American pair, eighth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. The Bryan brothers upset top seeds Wayne Ferreira of South Africa and Todd Woodbridge of Australia 6-4, 6-2 in another quarter-final.

In the other half of the draw, qualifiers Erico Taino and David Wheaton upset fifth seeds Alex O'Brien and Brown Black 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals. The second quarter-final match of this half is between second seeds Johnson/Palmer and sixth seeds Adams/Ohovskiy.

Friday's victory was the ninth straight one grass for Paes and Bhupathi, dating back to Wimbledon 1999. This is the first grass tournament the Indians are playing since Wimbledon '99. Their last loss on grass was at the Queen's ATP quarterfinal, to Arthurs/Kratzmann in 1999.

Earlier Reports
Paes-Bhupathi in last eight
Paes-Bhupathi advance