Rafa & Robredo Face Bhupathi & Knowles in Final

Mark Knowles and Mahesh Bhupathi advanced to their fourth final in their past five tournaments with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie in the semifinals of the ATP Masters Series event in Monte Carlo on Saturday.

Second in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, Knowles/Bhupathi converted five of six break points and won 70% of points on their serve to help secure the victory in 1hr., 7mins.

Mark Knowles had served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but dropped serve after a loose game, which included a double fault. However, Knowles/Bhupathi were not deterred, they won the deciding point in the ensuing game when Coetzee was unable to dig out a dipping Bhupathi backhand return, and the fourth seeds went on to serve out the victory.

With their quarterfinal victory over fifth seeds Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle, 33-year-old Bhupathi earned his 500th career victory in doubles.

The Bahamas/Indian pairing of Knowles and Bhupathi have enjoyed a strong start to the season. Standing at 22-5 for the season, they are looking to capture their third title of the campaign. They were victorious in Memphis (d. Ratiwatana/Ratiwatana) and also in Dubai, where they defeated Damm/Vizner in the final. The duo was also a semifinalist at the Australian Open (l. to Erlich/Ram) and recently finished runner-up to Bob and Mike Bryan at the Sony Ericsson Open.

World No. 3 Knowles is playing here for the 11th time (10-10 record) and is through to his first final, his best previous result being a semifinal showing in 2004 (w/Nestor). No. 13 Bhupathi was a champion in Monte Carlo five years ago, with Max Mirnyi.

South African duo Coetzee and Moodie, who captured the title in Estoril last weekend (d. Murray/Ullyett), upset top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the quarterfinals, having also knocked out seventh seeds Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement earlier. They stand at 19-7 for the season.

In the final, Knowles/Bhupathi will face Spanish duo Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo, who recovered from a set down to defeat eighth seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett 5-7, 7-6(6) 10-7 in a match tie-break.

Nadal/Robredo won just one point more than their opponents in the encounter, which lasted 1hr., 55mins, and converted three of five break points compared to Bjorkman/Ullyett’s four of five break point conversions.

Nadal, who is also in the singles final where he will face Roger Federer, is bidding to become just the second player in Masters Series history to win both the singles and the doubles titles.

Nadal and Robredo, who posted an upset over No. 3 seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the second round, are through to their first final together since winning the 2004 Chennai title (d. Erlich/Ram) in their second appearance as a duo. The pair also went on to reach the semifinals of the US Open later in 2004 (l. to Paes/Rikl).

Placed No. 136 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Rankings, Nadal is looking to claim his fourth ATP doubles title, while unranked Robredo is bidding for his second.