India's Bopanna in doubles World Tour Final

India's Bopanna in doubles World Tour Final

LONDON - India's Rohan Bopanna and his doubles partner Florin Mergea will face the season's number one pairing in Sunday's World Tour Final.

India's Rohan Bopanna (L) and Romania's Florin Mergea celebrate after beating Brazil's Marcelo Melo and Croatia's Ivan Dodig in a men's doubles semi-final match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London on November 21, 2015

The eighth-seeded Bopanna and Mergea needed just 59 minutes to beat 2014 finalists and third seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Brazil's Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-2 in Saturday's semi-finals at London's O2 Arena.

They will now play for the title against Jean-Julien Roger of the Netherlands and Romania's Horia Tecau, who beat US twins Bob and Mike Bryan, the defending champions and top seeds, 6-4, 6-4.

Saturday's results ensure that second seeds Roger and Tecau will finish the season as world number ones.

"Rohan is probably the hottest player of the tournament," Mike Bryan said of the 35-year-old.

"He's doing everything well. He's got big weapons. It's great to see him doing well so late in his career.

"He's been the guy this week to kind of carry that team. But this guy Florin Mergea is a shot-maker. He's clipped us a few times this year. He can do it all from the baseline. They make a great squad with a big returner and big server.

"It's anyone's ball-game. It could go either way," he said of Sunday's final.

The season-ending World Tour Finals are contested between the top eight doubles pairings of the year.

Bopanna and Mergea qualified for the tournament on the last day of the regular season, but will be competing for the title, worth $162,000.

Having only teamed up in April, it will be their fifth final together. The pair won the Madrid and Stuttgart titles this year.

Bopanna will be appearing in his second championship match at the World Tour Finals, having finished as runner-up with countryman Mahesh Bhupathi in 2012.

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