Rohan Bopanna reached his third final of the season when he combined Edourad Roger-Vasselin to get past Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot in straight sets in the ATP Japan Open, here on Friday.
Bopanna and his French partner, seeded fourth, beat the Austrian-Briton combination 6-4 7-6(6) in the semifinals of the USD 1,297,000 hard court event.
Bopanna had won Marseille event in France with Briton Colin Fleming and ended finalist with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi at Rome Masters.
Bopanna and his partner broke their rivals twice in the and saved a crucial chance to take the opening set.
The two teams had several chances to break each other in the second but did not succeed, eventually pushing it to tie-breaker, where the fourth seeds prevailed.
Del Potro into semis
Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro overcame Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the Japan Open semifinals.
Del Potro broke Dolgopolov twice in the second set and again to go up 3-1 in the third set at Ariake Colosseum. He closed out the match with another break when Dolgopolov’s return was long.
“Everything today was difficult,” del Potro said. “At the beginning of the match, I hit my forehand well and he was always able to return it. I was still fighting and broke him in the second set and that gave me confidence for the third set.”
The Argentine will face sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the semis on Saturday. Almagro beat local favorite and defending champion Kei Nishikori 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-3.