Dubai Open: Leander Paes and Jamie Cerretani storm into final

Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his American partner Jamie Cerretani blew away the unseeded combine of Damir Dzumhur and Filip Krajinovic to enter the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday. The Indo-American pair, who are wildcard entrants at this ATP 500 tournament, was in top form and needed just 1 hour 6 minutes to secure the 6-4, 6-2 win.

Paes and Cerretani made a great job of saving four out of the five break points that they faced, which was the key to their solid win. The only time that they lost their serve was in the first set but they made up for it with two breaks of serve.

They carved out two more breaks of serve in the second set and opened up a 3-0 lead before finishing off the commanding win.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion Paes will be looking to win a staggering 55th doubles title on the ATP World Tour when he and Cerretani take on the second seeds and reigning US Open champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

Paes and Cerretani aim for Title No. 2

Paes and Cerretani will be aiming for their second title of the year after triumphing at the Newport Beach Challenger earlier in January. While the evergreen Indian ace has time and again tasted glory in the Challenger circuit, he has been struggling for some time in the bigger events.

His last final in the elite circuit came way back in September, 2016 when he finished as runner-up alongside Andre Begemann at the St Petersburg Open. Leander, who is now languishing at 52nd in the world rankings, lifted an ATP Tour trophy for the last time in 2015 at the ATP Auckland.

Incidentally, his run to the Dubai final this week has also made him the first Indian doubles exponent to reach the summit clash in any event on the ATP World Tour in 2018. Both Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan went close but have bowed out in semi-finals so far this year.