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Journalism of Courage
The profligate pair of 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 USD 869,000 Japan Open in Tokyo.
The Indo-Czech team defeated Robert Kendrick of America and Jarko Nieminen of Finland 6-4 7-6 (4) in one hour and 11 minutes in the semifinal of the hard court ATP event.
The winners of the Thailand Open last week squandered as many as eight breakpoints — five in the first set and three in the second — 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.
They will fight it out for the trophy against unseeded pair of Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Mischa Zverev of Germany, who toppled third seed pair Jordan Kerr of Australia and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden 6-2 4-6 10-8 in the second semifinal.
