Paes makes season's first tennis doubles final in Germany

Halle (Germany), June 14 (IANS) India's Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy allied from a second set collapse and a rain delay to book their berth into the final of the 713 Euros Gerry Weber Open tennis tournament.

The Indo-Czech pairing won late Friday 6-4, 0-6, 10-4 over Croatian Ivan Lubicic and Swedish Robin Soderling as they grabbed the super tie-breaker after sharing the first two sets.

Paes, who turns 35 Tuesday, is playing with Dlouhy only for the second time in the season. The first time was at the French Open.

This is the first final of the year for Paes, whose previous best this season was the semi-final appearance with Tommy Robredo at the ATP Series event in Hamburg.

Paes and Dlouhy won the first set 6-4, but the fourth seed Indo-Czech pair were blanked out in the second set.

Paes-Dlouhy saved five breakpoints in the second set but allowed their rivals to win the set. In the super tie-breaker, Paes-Dlouhy were calm and composed and won 10-4.

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