Paes-Stepanek in semis at World Tour Finals

Third seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek qualified for the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals after winning their second Group A match on Thursday.

The Indo-Czech pair beat sixth seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-4 in 92 minutes.

Paes, a four-time former runner-up in the event with two different partners, making his 14th appearance at the season-ending championships, and Stepanek have three titles under their belt this season -- the Australian Open, Sony Ericsson Open and Shanghai Rolex Masters.

This was Paes-Stepanek's second victory in the tournament, having got the better of the seventh seeded pair of Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Roger 6-4, 7-5 in their opening match.

Granollers-Lopez had a dream start to the tournament, defeating top seeds and three-time former champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-5, 5-7.

Paes-Stepanek, playing together as a team for the first time in the Tour Finals, take on the Bryan brothers next in what is a dead rubber for them.

Image: Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek celebrate a point during the men's doubles match against Marcel Granollers of Spain and Marc Lopez at the the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena.

Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images