To the delight of all Indians, fourth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek crashed into the men's doubles semi-finals at Wimbledon with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Nenad Zimonjic and Julian Benneteau.
The Indo-Czech pair lost the first set but returned strongly to claim the next three in 2 hours and 39 minutes. Subsequently, Paes and Stepanek will encounter the winner of the Ivan Dodig-Marcelo Melo vs James Blake-Jurgen Melzer clash. Certainly, they are joined in the semis by Rohan Bopanna and Eduoard Roger-Vasselin who thrashed Robert Lindstedt and Daniel Nestor by 7-5, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-2. Magnificently, the Indo-French duo won the rain-affected five setter against the Swedish-Canadian pair in two hours and 45 minutes on court no. 2.
Previously, they got the better of the third seeded Austrian-Brazil pair Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares by 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 in the fourth round. Notably this is Bopanna's first-ever entry into the semi-final at the All England Club. It cannot be ignored that it will be his third Grand Slam semifinal appearance, having played US Open in last-four in 2010 and 2011.
Subsequently, Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin will lock horns with top seeds and favorites Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. Earlier, the Bryan Brothers won against eighth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Julian Knowle by 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 ending Bhupathi's 2013 Wimbledon campaign. Bhupathi and his mixed doubles partner Daniela Hantuchova had lost in the first round to Mark Knowles and Sabine Lisicki. Miraculously, Sania Mirza, who had exited from the women's doubles event on Monday, kept her mixed doubles hope alive by progressing into the third round. Second seeded, Sania and Horia Tecau ousted Julia Georges-Martin Emmrich pair by 6-3, 6-4 to march into the mixed doubles Round 3. Sania and Tecau are supposed to clash with Eric Butorac-Alize Cornet, who concluded Leander Paes' mixed doubles campaign in the 2nd round. The Paes and Saisai Zheng pair were comprehensively banged 6-3, 6-3 by Butorac-Cornet.
