Melbourne: Mahesh Bhupathi earned a shot at his first Australian Open title by reaching the men's doubles final with Mark Knowles while Leander Paes' wait continues after losing his semifinal alongside partner Lukas Dlouhy.
Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Knowles, seeded third, thrashed Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach 6-3 6-1 to make the finals of a Grand Slam event together for the first time since forging the partnership in 2008.
In the other semifinal, the fourth seeded Paes-Dlouhy pair lost 3-6 3-6 to American second seeds Mike and Bob Brayan.
Bhupathi now has a chance to end his drought of men's doubles title at a Grand Slam event as last time he laid hands on a winners trophy was in 2002 at US Open.
The title will also complete Bhupathi's Grand Slam kitty as it is only the Australian Open men's doubles title that has eluded both Bhupathi and Paes so far.
They won French Open and Wimbledon together but annexed the US Open with different partners.
Paes and his Czech partner's fight against the formidable Bryan brothers was over in just 54 minutes, ending Indian hopes of seeing two of its best doubles players fighting for the title.
Paes has not won a men's doubles title at a Grand Slam since winning the US open in 2006 with Martin Damm.
Earlier in the day, the third seed Indo-Bahamian pair proved too good for their unseeded Polish-Austrian opponents as it took them just 58 minutes to win the semifinal encounter.
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