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Paes-Damm in Qatar Open semis

January 04, 2007 20:40 IST

Leander Paes [ Images ] and his Czech Republic partner Martin Damm [ Images ] stormed into the semi-finals of the Qatar Open after thrashing the Belgian pair of Christophe Rochus and Kristof Vliegen in straight sets.

The third seeded Indo-Czech pair beat the wild card entry 6-3, 6-1.

Paes and Damm, who triumphed in the US Open [ Images ] last year, will have their first tough match of the tournament in the semi-finals as they meet second seeds Mark Knowles [ Images ] of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor [ Images ] of Canada [ Images ], who scored a comfortable 6-3, 6-0 win over Sebastian Grosjean and Gael Melzer of France [ Images ].

The Indo-Czech combination saw of the initial challenge from the Belgian pair and converted two of the four break-points that came their way in the first set.

They stepped up their game to a few notches and did not allow their opponents any chance of a comeback in the second set and sealed it 6-1.

In the other semi-final, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia [ Images ] and Nenad Zimonijic of Serbia will face the English pair of Andy Murray [ Images ] and Jamie Murray.

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