Sania-Bhupathi in mixed doubles, Yuki in boys final

MELBOURNE - It turned out to be India’s day in the Australian Open Friday as Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza entered the mixed doubles final for the second successive year, while Yuki Bhambri breezed into the boys final.

Bhupathi and Sania shrugged off an indifferent start to outplay Czech pair Lukas Dlouhy and Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-1.

Sania and Bhupathi set-up a final clash with France’s Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram of Israel who overcame a stiff resistance from Spain’s seventh-seeded pair Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7), 6-4 Thursday.

In the boy’s singles, top seed Yuki swept aside seventh-seeded France’s Adrien Puget 6-4, 6-4 to reach his first Grand Slam final where he meets Germany’s Alexandros-Ferdinandos Georgoudas who pulled off a shock 6-4, 6-4, win over second seed Julen Uriguen of Guatemala.

‘It was a tough match, I was 1-4 down in the second set. It was pretty hot out there, but I stuck it out to win. It is yet to sink in that I am in the final,’ Yuki told IANS.

Yuki’s doubles campaign with Chinese Taipei’s Liang-Chi Huang, however, came to an end when they lost 3-6, 1-6 to Russia’s Mikhal Biryukov and Japanese Yasutaka Uchiyama.

Winner of 10 Grand Slams, Bhupathi is in line for two more with his final appearances in men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Bhupathi, who has won six mixed doubles and four men’s doubles titles is on the verge of winning a Grand Slam double for the second time, having entered the men’s doubles final with Mark Knowles of Bahamas. Mahesh and Knowles play the Bryan twins Mark and Bob in Saturday’s final.

Bhupathi had entered both the men’s and mixed doubles finals at the U.S. Open in 1999, but could only win the mixed title with Japanese Ai Sugiyama, losing the men’s doubles final with Leander Paes.

Bhupathi’s last mixed doubles title was in 2006 when he and former women’s World No. 1 Martina Hingis won at the Australian Open and his last men’s doubles win came at the U.S. Open with Belarussian Max Mirnyi.

Bhupathi and Sania showed a stomach for fight with the latter making up for Bhupathi’s sluggish start. The 22-year old Hyderabadi excelled both at the net and from the baseline with some outstanding groundstrokes and volleys. The Indians broke Dlouhy’s serve four times, twice in each set, to make their task easier in the 54-minute battle.

The only time the Indians trailed in the entire match was when Bhupathi dropped his first service game of the match and trailed 0-3. But Sania handled the situation remarkably well to pull the Indian pair back.

The Indians were back in the hunt after breaking Dlouhy for the first time, rallying from 0-40. From then on there was no looking back by the Indian pair. As they pounced on Dlouhy’s serve again the set was gone for the Czech pair and Bhupathi served it out.

Dlouhy continued to serve poorly and as Sania got into the overdrive, Bhupathi, too, chipped in with timely interceptions at the net to gain the upper hand straightaway in the second set. A demoralised Czech pair watched helplessly as the Indians struck winner after winner to take the set and the match.