Paes-Dlouhy in Japan Open semis

The top seeded pair of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy won their sixth match on the trot to advance to the semi-finals of the $869000 Japan Open in Tokyo on Friday.

The Indo-Czech pair overcame a late challenge from Philipp Petzschner of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria 6-2, 7-6(4) in one hour and eight minutes in the quarter-final of the hard court event.

The Thailand Open winners next face Robert Kendrick of America and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the last-four stage.