Paes-Nestor battle into China Open semifinals

BEIJING: Leander Paes ensured a strong Indian presence in the men's doubles semifinals of theChina Open. Paes and Canada's Daniel Nestor, the 40-plus pairing, pulled off a battling result in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Paes and Nestor, who have already won a title together this year, at Winston-Salem in August, were at the top of their game against the Spanish combine of David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco, coming through their last eight encounter 7-6 (10-8), 6-3.

In the last four on Saturday, Nestor and Paes, the top-seeds, will face the Italian combine of Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi.