Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus were restricted entry into the semifinals after they crashed out to American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in the rain interrupted doubles round-robin match in the ATP Masters Cup in Houston, Texas.
Bhupathi-Mirnyi lost 6-7 (7/9) 7-5 4-6 in the Blue group tie that began on Tuesday but haulted due to rain and could be completed only yesterday after all the doubles actions were washed out on Wednesday as well, according to information received here today.
At the interruption, the US duo were ahead 5-4 in the first set but the Indo-Belarussian pair came back to clinch the second set.
The Bryan brothers, who lost all three prior matches against Bhupathi and Mirnyi, joined Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Australian Todd Woodbridge and world number one Daniel Nestor of Canada and Mark Knowles of Bahamas in the semi-finals.
The other semifinalists will be decided from the match between Zimbabweans Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett and Belgians Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus.