Paes, Damm lose in Cincinnati semis

NEW DELHI: Leander Paes and Martin Damm of Czech Republic were unable to stretch themselves against second seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Belarus' Max Mirnyi.

The pair had to bow out of the doubles semifinal of the USD 2,450,000 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament in Ohio, USA.

The seventh seeded Indo-Czech pair lost 6-7 (3/7) 2-6 on Centre Court on Saturday. After a hard-fought first set, which went into the tie-breaker, Paes and Damm were not able to put up much resistance in the second.

The doubles final will be a showdown between the top two pairs as Bjorkman and Mirnyi take on number one seeds Bryan brothers - Bob and Mike.

The Bryan brothers defeated sixth seeded Israeli combination of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 in the other semi-final.