Bopanna-Mergea enter Halle Open semis

Indo-Romanian tennis pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea earned a straight sets victory in the men's doubles to enter the semifinals of the Halle Open on the grass courts of the Gerry Weber Stadion here on Thursday.

Fresh from their title victory at Stuttgart last week, the second seeds needed only an hour and 23 minutes to move past Croatian-Finnish combination of Marin Draganja and Henri Continen 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in the quarterfinals. They will next take on American pair of Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky for a place in the final.

Bopanna and Mergea were totally out of touch in the first set as they served four double faults which threw away several chances of earning breakpoint opportunities. On the contrary, Draganja and Continen were able to earn three breakpoint chances but the second seeds managed to save all three, pushing the set into the tie-breaker.

Bopanna and Mergea, however, prevailed 7-4 in the crucial tie-breaker to take a one-set advantage in the match.

Though the second seeds upped their game, they were far from their best in the second set. Both teams got one breakpoint opportunity each but both failed to convert them and once again the set went into the tie-breaker.

The Indo-Romanian once more came out on top to enter the penultimate stage of the tournament, which is considered a warm-up event for Wimbledon.