Bhupathi-Bopanna battle into Tour Finals semis

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna sealed a place in the semi-finals at the ATP World Tour Finals after getting the better of the second-ranked Belarusian-Canadian pair of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor at the O2 Arena in London on Friday.

In a tense Group B match that could have gone either way, the world No 5 Indian duo prevailed 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-5 in an hour and 55 minutes.

In a must-win match for the London Olympics pair, which lost their opening match to Wimbledon champions Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen before beating Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in their second, Bhupathi-Bopanna held their nerves at crunch situations to emerge victorious.

The Paris Masters' winners will finish as runners-up from Group B and face the winners of Group A in the last four.

Bhupathi was runner-up four times in the event -- in 1997, 1999-2000, with Leander Paes, and in 2010 with Mirnyi.

On Saturday, India's Leander Paes and Czech partner Radek Stepanek, who are through to the semis, meet the Bryan brothers in their concluding match which will decide the top two places in Group A.

Image: Mahesh Bhupathi (right) and Rohan Bopanna during their match against Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada.

Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images