Bhupathi-Knowles in men's doubles final; Yuki in junior semis

MELBOURNE: Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles thrashed Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach 6-3, 6-1 to reach the final of the men's doubles event of the Australian Open on Thursday.

The third seed Indo-Bahamian pair proved too good for their unseeded Polish-Austrian opponents as it took them just 58 minutes to win the semi-final encounter.

The winners improved on their last year's performance here as they had lost the semi-finals. This is also for the second time that Bhupathi has reached the final of the Australian Open.

Last time he made the finals of the men's doubles at Australian Open was in 1999 with his estranged partner Leander Paes.

Bhupathi now has a chance to grab his fifth men's doubles Grand Slam title, first Australian Open title and 11th overall.

It's been a long time that he won a men's doubles title at a Grand Slam event. It was way back in 2002 that he annexed the title at the US Open with Max Mirnyi.

They next take on the winners of the match between fourth seed pair of Leander Paes/Lukas Dlouhy and second seed Americans Bob and Mike Brayan.

Bhupathi-Knowles broke their rivals once in the first set to take a 1-0 lead and then outplayed them in the second to clinch the issue.

They break them thrice - first, fifth and seventh games - in the second set to race away with the match. The winners put up a sterling show at the net, stood like a wall and defended their post with elan.

Knowles hit a stunning forehand winner to earn a match point which got converted when Marach's attempted winner flew over the baseline.

Among the juniors, top seed Yuki Bhambri quelled a late challenge from Germany's Becker 6-1, 7-5 to reach the boys singles semi-finals.

The teen sensation had reached the semi-finals last year as well.