Rediff

Indian Wells, Mar 17: Leander Paes and Martin Damm of Czech Republic shocked top ranked Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi in straight sets storming into the final of the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament at Indian Wells, California.

The fifth seeds Indo-Czech duo pulled off a 6-2, 6-7 (7/5) win against the top seeded pair of Bjorkman of Sweden and Belarussian Mirnyi in the semi-final of the USD 3,169,600 million event on Friday.

Paes and Damm will clash with sixth seeds Israeli pair Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram for the title.

Erlich and Ram defeated seventh seeded Austrian pair of Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 7-5 in the other semi-final.

After an easy win in the first set, Paes and Damm carefully played on the crucial moments in the second set, to emerge winners in a tie-breaker.

The duo, who clinched the title in the Rotterdam, will play their third final together this year after finishing runners-up in the Qatar Open in Doha.