Updated on Saturday, September 09, 2006, 00:00 IST

New York, Sept 09: Leander Paes and Martin Damm survived some nerve-jangling moments to register a thrilling 6-7 (1) 7-6 (7) 7-5 victory against fourth seeds Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett and reach their second Grand Slam final of the season at the US Open.

The sixth-seeded Indo-Czech pair had only 116 points to their credit compared to 122 by their Aussie-Zimbabwe rivals, but won the crucial points to come through the two-hour and 40-minute match under lights at the Flushing Meadows on Friday.

Although Paes and Damm had lesser number of winning points, they converted two of their five breakpoints that came their way while Hanley and Ullyett could convert only one of the five they had.

That there were 16 unforced errors by Paes and Damm and 18 by Hanley and Ullyett, besides seven doubles faults by each of them, pointed to the immense pressure on the players.

Paes and Damm had reached the final at Australian Open besides advancing to the semifinal at Wimbledon this year. The Indian ace has three doubles triumphs at the Grand Slams to his credit while his partner is yet to win a major title.

They now face Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Belarussian Max Mirnyi in the final.

Bjorkman and Mirnyi, who have won the French Open crown for last two successive years besides winning the US Open with different partners, defeated the unseeded duo of Ashley Fisher of Australia and Tripp Phillips of the US 6-1 6-4 in the other semifinal.

Bureau Report