Bhupathi-Bopanna conquer Paris Masters

Paris: Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna clinched the Paris Master, their second title of the year, after scoring a hard-fought win over Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer, here on Sunday.

The fifth seed Indian pair, playing their fourth final of the season, struggled past the Pakistan-Dutch combination 7-6 (6) 6-3 in the summit clash, lasting one hour and 24 minutes.

Bhupathi and Bopanna had won the Dubai ATP event and ended runners-up at Cincinnati and Shanghai.

The Indians could not convert a single breakpoint of the six chances in the opening set but held nerves in the tie-breaker to take the lead.

They saved a crucial break chance in the second set and cashed in on both the chances on opponents’ serve to seal the win.

The Indians have already qualified for the season-ending finale, where they will make debut as a pair.

The 38-year-old Bhupathi is a four-time runner-up at the event, losing the final in 2010 with Max Mirnyi and 1997, ’99 and 2000 with Leander Paes.

Bopanna, 32, had made his debut at the year-end championships last year with Qureshi.