Madrid, May 8 (IANS): Sixth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea entered the final of Madrid Masters men's doubles tennis title, beating fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 7-5, 6-7 (4), 12-10 in a tight contest.
The Indo-Romanian pair pulled ahead after winning the first set 7-5 here on Saturday.
But they couldn't capitalise on their ascendancy. They surrendered the second set in the tie-breaker after some tough fight.
But they bounced back in the third set tie-breaker, displaying admirable skill and composure to snatch the contest 12-10 in the decider.
The defending champions will face third-seeded pair of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the title round.
Rojer-Tecau beat French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) earlier on Saturday.