Madrid Masters: Bhupathi-Bopanna in semis

The Indian team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna on Friday reached the semi-finals of the ATP Madrid Masters after scoring a hard-earned win over Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer.

The seventh seed Indian pair edges past the Pak-Dutch combination 7-6 (2), 7-6(5) in the quarter-finals of the euro 3,973,695 clay court elite event.

Qureshi was Bopanna's partner in the 2011 season and tasted good success together as a team.

Bopanna parted ways with Qureshi to partner Bhupathi, with whom he is expected to play in the London Olympics.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek reached the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over their unseeded French rivals Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils in the second round, on Saturday.

Paes and Stepanek now face tough task as they are up against second seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor.