Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna in semi-finals of Chennai Open

The fledgling combination of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna came through a second set tie-break to beat Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) and Andrea Beck (Germany) 6-4, 7-6 (3) to enter the doubles semi-finals of the Aircel Chennai Open here  Thursday.

The Indians brought into play their vast combined experience to subdue the Swiss-German combine and will take on fourth seeded Israelis Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich.

Bhupathi was under constant pressure, unused as he is playing from the deuce court, but then showcased his doubles skills, if not mobility, to survive some tough moments.

Bopanna served quite well and was generally at home on his favoured ad court from where he sent out a stream of winners.

The two pairs were on par in the second set and in the tie-break, the Indians took early leads of 3-1 and 4-2 and three errors by Wawrinka gave the home tandem the tie-break.

Earlier, Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram also entered the semi-finals defeating Colombian pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3, 4-6, 10-7.