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Paes-Bhupati in Heineken semis

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati took another step towards a berth in the Phoenix/ATP World Doubles Championships when they powered into the doubles semifinals of the Heineken Open in Singapore.

The top-seeded Indian pair downed Marcos Ondruska and Grant Stafford 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to get into the last four, where they will face the Swedish pairing of Nicolas Kulti and Mikael Tilstrom who, for their part, ousted David Wheaton and Chris Wilkinson in the other quarterfinal.

On a faster court than the one on which, a week ago, the Indian pair took the China Open title, Bhupati's return of serve appeared to slip from its usual high standards -- a fact confirmed by his coach, Enrico Piperno. However, the pair coasted on the strength of their confidence which, with five titles under their belt and a very real possibility that when the next rankings are announced they will be up to number four, is sky high.

On the face of it, it would look like Paes and Bhupati are a shoo-in for the prestigious World Championships. However, they have four tournaments yet to play before that one, and a slump in their run could be accompanied by a slip in the rankings.

The world championships, which mark the end of the season, is fought out between the top six pairings in the world.