Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in Australian Open’s finals

MELBOURNE: On Thursday Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are on course for their maiden Australian Open title together as they defeated the second seeded combine of Max Mirnyi (Belarus) and Daniel Nestor (Canada) in the semi-final encounter. (Forum: Congratulate Lee-Hesh on their victory here)

The third seeded Indian pair, who teamed up together after nine years in a bid to add the only Grand Slam title missing in their cupboard, defeated them 7-6(5) 4-6 6-3.

They will now face top seeds Mike & Bob Bryan in the Men’s double final.

Paes and Bhupathi had to sweat a lot against Mirnyi and Nestor as both the pairs fought tooth and nail before the Indians prevailed.

There was hardly anything to separate the two teams as they broke each other twice in the opening set, which was decided through a tie-break in the favour of the Indians.