Marcos Baghdatis somewhat made up for the first round disappointment in the singles by advancing to the doubles final at the Chennai Open with French partner Marc Gicquel.
Baghdatis-Gicquel downed American Rajeev Ram and Harel Levy of Israel 6-7 (2), 7-6, 10-8 in the semi-final on Saturday night to set up a title clash with Thai twins Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.
The Ratiwatanas had also fought back from set down to beat Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi and Croatian teenager Marin Cilic 2-6, 6-2, 10-4.
After making a cracking start to the match, Qureshi-Cilic faded away as the Croat, who had lost his singles semi-final to Mikhail Youzhny earlier in the day, made a string of unforced errors and gave up the match without a fight in the match tie-break.
Baghdatis-Gicquel and Ram-Levy walked onto the centre court right after the colossal four-hour battle between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya. While the two Spaniards turned up the intensity, fighting for each and every point, the doubles fare that followed up was a fluffy dessert.
A small crowd was still hanging around well past mid-night to cheer Ram -- an American player of Indian origin. Though the US-Israeli pair looked better co-ordinated than their opponents for most part of the match, they were unable to cease the important moments.
While both the teams traded a break each in the first two sets, it was the Cypriots' class that pulled his team through in the match tie-break.
When his team looked cornered, Baghdatis managed to eke out impossible angles on the passing shots in the tie-break to turn the tables.
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