Paes-Damm enter Miami finals

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March 29, 2007 23:52 IST

Leander Paes and Martin Damm converted their third match point to enter into their second successive Masters series final, at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Thursday.

The sixth seeds were stretched into the match tie-break by the French pair of Michael Lldora and Arnaud Clement before clinching the semi-final 6-4, 3-6, 12-10 in an hour and 33 minutes.

Paes-Damm will play the winner of the match between fifth seeds Fabrice Santoro/Nenad Zimonjic and second seeds Mike and Bob Bryan for the title.

The Indo-Czech duo made a rousing comeback in the first set, winning it 6-4 after being 1-4 down.

In the second also they saved two set points but the Frenchmen converted the third on serve to bring the match level.

In the match tie-break, the Paes and Damm did the basics right -- like getting all their first serves in. After trading two points each, they went up for a 9-7 lead but their opponents saved both the match points.

The US Open champions finally got the mini-break on the 22nd point, to take the tie-break 12-10.

Winners at Indian Wells two weeks ago, Paes-Damm had ousted top seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi in the quarter-finals.

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