Bopanna-Cuevas enter Monte Carlo final (Lead)

Roquebrune Cap Martin (France) April 22 (IANS) Indian star Rohan Bopanna and his Uruguayan partner Pablo Cuevas defeated Romain Arneodo of Poland and Hugo Nys of France in straight sets to enter the men s doubles final of the Monte-Carlo Masters tennis tournament here on Saturday.

The Indo-Uruguayan combination clinched a 6-4 6-3 win in an hour-long encounter at the Monte Carlo Country Club.

This is the first final that Bopanna and Cuevas have entered since they teamed up earlier this year.

Late on Friday night they had won a tough three-set battle against Henri Kontinen of Finland and Australia s John Peers to enter the men s doubles semi-finals.

Bopanna and Cuevas lost the first set and were made to toil hard before clinching a 3-6 6-3 13-11 win in their quarter-final clash which lasted for around one hour and 12 minutes.

Arneodo and Nys on the other hand had defeated Jamie Murray of Britain and Brazil s Bruno Soares 6-2 6-7 10-3 in the quarter-finals.

--IANS
ajb/vd