Paes in mixed doubles final, Sania-Bhupathi exit

Leander Paes is in line for two titles at the Australian Open.

The Indian ace and Russia's Elena Vesnina staged a grand recovery to enter the mixed doubles final, even as Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi bowed out after their semi-final defeat on Friday.

Fifth seeds Paes and Vesnina got the better of the Italian pair of Roberta Vinci and Daniele Bracciali 5-7, 6-2, 10-7.

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Paes had already made it to the men's doubles final with Czech partner Radek Stepanek where they meet top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States.

Meanwhile, the sixth seeded Sania-Bhupathi's campaign ended after they lost 3-6, 3-6 to the eighth seeded combo of Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States and Romania's Horia Tecau in just 68 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.

Although the match was closely-contested, the American-Romanian duo played better as far as the crucial points were concerned. The Indians could hit only 17 winners compared to 24 by their opponents.

In the opening set, the Indians converted only one break-point out of the three they got, besides dropping serve twice.

The second set was on serve till 3-3, but the eighth seeds broke Sania-Bhupathi to go up 4-3 and then held to make it 5-3.

The Indians again dropped serve in the ninth game, handing the US-Romania pair a place in the final.