Indian duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi stormed into the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour finals doubles competition after an easy straight-set victory over top seeds and three-time winners Bob and Mike Bryan here.
The fourth-seeded ‘Indian Express’ pair defeated the world number one American twins 6-4 6-2 in less than an hour.
The Indians dropped just 12 points on serve, while converting three of the five break point chances to finish on top in Group A with two victories and a defeat.
Paes and Bhupathi, who had beaten the Bryans when they last met at the Cincinnati Masters earlier in the year, managed to gain an early break and that was enough for them to run away with the first set.
Bob came under pressure in the very first game of the second set, losing his serve, even as Paes and Bhupathi forced the Americans to make a number of errors. At 1-3, Bob was broken again and Paes clinched the point with an ace at 40/30.
The Indian pair, who are playing together in the end-of-season event for the first time in a decade after reviving their partnership this year, will next face Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the semifinals.
Despite the defeat against the Indians, the Bryans have already qualified for the semifinals after winning the first two round-robin matches. They will take on Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Canadian Daniel Nestor in the other semifinal.
Bhupathi and Paes, who have decided to split once again after this tournament and will partner other players next year, have a 32-13 win-loss record in the season.
They have won three titles this year -- Chennai Open, Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati. They also finished runners-up to the Bryan twins at the Australian Open in January.
