London: Mahesh Bhupathi, along with Elena Vesnina of Russia, advanced to the mixed doubles final of the Wimbledon after pipping Australian Paul Hanley and Chinese Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in a gruelling three-setter that lasted close to two hours.

The Indo-Russian duo committed too many unforced errors in the first set but they also saved two of the five breakpoints before winning it 6-2.

However, Hanley and Hsieh got their act together in the second set and gave the Indo-Russian pair a dose of their own medicine. The duo dealt in aces and made few unforced errors to win it 6-3.

The decider was a rollercoaster ride for Bhupathi and Vesnina as the Australian-Chinese Taipei pair broke them in the third game to lead 2-1.

But the Indo-Russian pair broke back and held their serve to go up by 3-2. They had saved their best for the last as after a long rally of points, with both parties holding on to their serves, the winners broke their rivals in their last serve to book a berth for championship duel.

(PTI)