Bhupathi and Bopanna, a new pairing after Leander Paes and Bhupathi decided to part ways again after their brief reunion last year, battled back after losing the first set 5-7 to win the second set 6-3 and win the Match Tie-breaker 10-5.

The Indian pair took an 8-3 lead in the ten-point match tie-breaker before allowing Malisse and Skupski to notch up two points, before the Britisher’s forehand return went long to give the match to Bhupathi and Bopanna. Malisse and Skupski have a doubles ranking of 26 and90 respectively.

After an initially tentative display, which included being broken in the first game, the pair grew in confidence as the match progressed.

Bhupathi later said his pairing with Bopanna was “not pretty but greedy”.

Bopanna, for his part, said the struggle in the first set was down to “pretty much getting used to playing with each other”. “This was our first match of the season. We had a lose first game and were broken, which was not ideal”.

Bhupathi said he had “put in a lot of hours in December” in the off season ahead of the Chennai Open. Bhupathi and Bopanna, who have a doubles ranking of seven and 11 respectively, will meet the Swiss-German pair of Stanislas Wawrinka and Andreas Beck in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

The Indian pair looked very much a work in progress as the instinctive chemistry that seemed to characterize Bhupathi’s pairing with Paes was missing. Bopanna regularly fired in aces that put the team in an advantageous position and almost always followed up with a backhand return into the net, thereby frittering away the advantage.

Bhupathi showed that none of his reflexes have dimmed with the passage of the years, exhibiting some wonderfully placed backhand shots across the court and engaging in some stirring rallies at the net with Skupski.

While Bhupathi and Bopanna broke their opponents in game 10 of the first set and game eight of the second, Malisse and Skupski broke Bhupathi and Bopanna in games one and 11 in the first set.

Ken & Xavier now head to Melbourne to compete in the Australian Open.

In the final they defeated the French pairing Kenny De Schepper Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6 6-3. This was Ken’s 4th title of the year and with those 125 ranking points should find himself back in the top 90.  Next week he plays the Rennes Challenger.

The win will put Ken back in the top 100 and he moves on to Segovia, Spain where he will team up with Karol Beck.

The 21 year old from Liverpool teamed with Albano Olivetti of France to win the $15,000 tournament, which took place at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club.

The unseeded pair battled their way through the draw, defeating French top seeds Julien Maes and Fabrice Martin in the semi-finals, to set up a final against local players James Cluskey and James McGee. Skupski and Olivetti fought hard in the first set and took it 7-4 against the Irish second seeds.  They then went on to win the next set and took the match 7-6, 6-3 to be crowned doubles champions.

Ken now moves on to s-Hertogenbosch in Holland where he will once again partner Robin Haase. Ken and Robin won the ATP Open 13 doubles title earlier in the season. Ken and Robin will also be playing Wimbledon together.

LIVERPOOL’S Ken Skupski overcame British number one Andy Murray at the AEGON Championships at Queens Club last night.

Skupski partnered Belgian Xavier Malisse in the first round tie with Murray and his brother Jamie, and they saw off the Scots in straight sets 6-3 6-4.

The triumphant duo will now meet fifth seeds Oliver Marach and Marcin Matkowski in their next match.

As for Andy Murray, he will today take on Malisse again as he launches his bid for the title he won in 2009.

From BBC sport

It’s never easy getting over a break-up but life as a doubles player can make it especially hard, with your ex always around the corner at the same tournaments.

British number two Colin Fleming admits as much, saying a sporting divorce “can be very awkward and quite personal”, but this week in Paris has shown that it does not have to be the case.

Having split with Ken Skupski at the end of 2010 after a highly successful couple of years, the pair were on opposite sides of the net at the French Open on Wednesday – Fleming partnered by German Philipp Marx and Skupski alongside Slovakia’s Igor Zelenay.

It was the scratch pairing of Fleming and Marx that came through 6-4 6-4 on Court 14, looking very sharp in doing so, but there were no daggers drawn at the net afterwards.

To read the full article click here

Robin Haase and Ken Skupski capped a dream debut as they saved one match point to win the Open 13 title with a 6-3, 6-7(4), 13-11 victory over French pairing Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament on Sunday.

The Dutch-British pairing, who had progressed through the draw without losing a set, made a strong start to the final as they broke serve once to clinch the opening set. However, they lost out in a tie-break in the second set and, after squandering a match point at 9-8 in the Match Tie-break, found themselves match point down when they trailed 9-10. Benneteau and Tsonga were unable to convert, though, and Haase-Skupski rallied to claim victory in 88 minutes.

The 23-year-old Haase won his first ATP World Tour doubles title at the third attempt, after runner-up finishes in Amersfoort in 2007 (w/ Wassen) and at the start of the 2011 season in Chennai (w/ Martin). Skupski, 27, clinched his third ATP World Tour doubles title; his previous trophies both came with Colin Fleming at St. Petersburg and Metz in 2009.

“I want to thank Robin,” said Skupski. “This is the first time we played together. We had a great week. I like playing in France. This is my third title and my second in France. Also it has been great to face two such great singles players in the final. It’s a pleasure to be on-court with such great athletes.”

Haase added, “I enjoyed this week a lot and would love to play again with Ken in the future.”

Benneteau and Tsonga were chasing their second ATP World Tour doubles title together, having won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai crown in November 2009.

Ken heads off to the USA now to play in Delray Beach with Jamie Murray.