Knowle-Melzer Extend Winning Streak; French Duo Reaches Final

© Getty ImagesJo-Wilfried Tsonga and Julien Benneteau are through to their first final together.

Austrians Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer recorded their seventh successive win as they advanced to the semi-finals of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 Presented by Rolex with a 4-6, 7-6(6), 10-6 victory over fifth seeds Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman Friday at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 hard-court tournament.

The unseeded duo, who ousted fourth seeds Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in the second round, withstood 10 aces from their opponents’ racquets and triumphed after one hour and 42 minutes, despite failing to break serve once in the encounter.

Roland Garros finalists, Moodie and Norman recorded the only service break of the match, in the first set. The South African-Belgian duo was playing its first match of the week after receiving a first-round bye followed by a walkover through the second round.

Knowle and Melzer are coming off their second ATP World Tour title of the season at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (d. Hutchins-Kerr). They won their first title of the year at Pilot Pen Tennis (d. Soares-Ullyett) in August and have compiled a 27-18 mark. For a place in their third straight semi-final, they will meet Polish sixth seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

French pairing Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached their first final together after ousting third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 7-6(2), 6-2, with three breaks of serve in the 76-minute match.

Indian Bhupathi and Knowles of the Bahamas, who have already secured their place at the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, were looking to reach their fifth tour-level final of the season. They slipped to a 36-17 match record on the year.

Benneteau and Tsonga, who first paired together for a quarter-final effort at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (l. to Mirnyi-Ram), have gone on a giant-killing run this week, including victory over World No. 1 duo Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the second round.

The 27-year-old Benneteau is through to his sixth ATP World Tour doubles final and has a 3-2 record, while Tsonga, 24, is hoping to capture his fourth title from his fourth final.