US Open: Paes-Stepanek upset Bryans, reach second straight final

Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek upset defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan to move into the men's doubles final at the US Open on Thursday.

The pair, seeded fourth, bested the top seeded American duo 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

It was sweet revenge for Paes and Stepanek who finished second best to the Bryans in the final last year.

They will face second seeds Alexander Peya (Austria) and Bruno Soares (Brazil), who beat the Croatian-Brazilian combine of Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, seeded 10th, 7-4, 6-4 in the second semi-final.

The Indo-Czech combine, which had beaten the fifth seeded Pakistani-Dutch combine of Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer in the quarters, started slowly.

Stepanek, in particular, was very slow off the blocks. That gave the American pair enough time to race through the opening set.

Paes-Stepanek returned the compliment in the second, thereby forcing a decider.

In the final set, the fourth seeded pair began on an aggressive note. They had four break-points on Mike's serve in the third game, and managed to convert the fourth.

Bob's serve was broken in the fifth, and that gave the Indo-Czech pair a 4-1 lead.

The Bryans had a plethora of break-points in the sixth game, on Stepanek's serve, but failed to capitalize on any.

Paes was however, broken in the eighth game, the Bryans converting the second break-point.

It was, however, a matter of time before Paes and Stepanek wrapped up the match. The latter served out the tenth gamer to love to seal it.

The US Open is one major where Paes has been at his consistent best.

He won the doubles title in New York in 2006 and again in 2009, on both occasions partnering Czechs - Martin Damm and Lukas Dlouhy respectively.

He was also a beaten finalist in 1999 (partnering Mahesh Bhupathi), 2004 (with David Rikl), 2008 (with Dlouhy) and last year (with Stepanek).

Image: Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek