Paes and Dlouhy in final

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy kept themselves in contention for their second consecutive ATP doubles title as the...

Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy kept themselves in contention for their second consecutive ATP doubles title as the top-seeded duo reached the final of the 869,000 Japan Open in Tokyo on Saturday.

The Indo-Czech pair defeated Robert Kendrick of US and Jarko Nieminen of Finland 6-4 ,7-6 4 in one hour and 11 minutes in the semi-final of the hard court ATP event.

The winners of the Thailand Open last week squandered as many as eight breakpoints 8212; five in the first set and three in the second 8212; before romping home after a tight contest. They could break their rivals only once in the match but scored points when it mattered most as they prevailed in the tie-breaker in the second set.

Paes and Dlouhy will fight for the trophy against the unseeded pair of Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Mischa Zverev of Germany, who toppled the third-seeded pair Jordan Kerr of Australia and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 in the second semi-final.

Roddick crashes out

ANDY Roddick8217;s bid for a second straight title in Asia came to an end Saturday, losing a third-set tiebreak to Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals of the Japan Open. Berdych rallied from a set down to a thrilling 6-7 2, 7-5, 7-6 3 win over the second-seeded American.

Ninth-seeded Berdych will face fifth-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in Sunday8217;s final. Del Potro defeated Richard Gasquet 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in the other semi-final.

Roddick, coming off a win at the China Open last Sunday, broke Berdych to take a 2-0 lead in the final set and looked set for another trip to the final after building up a 5-2 lead.

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However, Berdych staged a comeback by holding serve in the eighth game, and breaking Roddick with a crosscourt forehand to close the gap to 5-4 before sending the final set into a tiebreaker, which he won with an ace.

In the women8217;s event, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark coasted to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia to reach the final. She will take on fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who defeated Canada8217;s Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 6-4.