Paes-Klaasen upset second seeds, reach final of Heineken Open

Leander Paes and Raven Klaasen breezed into the title clash of the Heineken Open after knocking out second seeds Bruno Soares and Alexander Peya in
the semi-finals in Auckland on Friday. 

The fourth seeded Indo-South African pair rallied to beat the Brazilian-Austrian combo 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 in the semifinals of the USD 519,395 hard court event.

It is second consecutive final for Paes and Klassen, after ending runners-up at the Chennai Open. 

Paes and Klaasen had four break chances in the opening set but converted none.

They though dropped serve once to let the opponents run away with the first set. 

They did not face a single break chance in the second and capitalised on one of the two chances to draw parity.

In the Super Tiebreaker, they easily were the better team.

Paes and his new partner now face unseeded team of Briton Dominic Nglot and Romania's Florin Mergea in the summit clash.

The latter got the better of Marcelo Melo and Max Mirnyi 6-4, 3-6, 14-12 in the other semi-final.

Image: Leander Paes

Photo: Getty Images