Second seeds Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] and Mark Knowles survived a scare from Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Sippi before notching up a three-set win to advance to the finals of Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven, US.

The Indo-Bahamian pair beat Bolleli and Sippi 6-3 5-7 10-7 to set up a clash with fourth seeds Brazillians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa.

In a battle that lasted over one and a half hour, Bhupathi and Knowles were put through a tough test by their unseeded rivals.

The opening set went the Indo-Bahamian pair's way but Bolleli and Sippi did well to recover and equalise in the second set, in which they broke Bhupathi and Knowles twice besides saving five break points.

However, Bolleli and Sippi ran out of steam in the deciding tie-breaker as Bhupathi and Knowles drew from their experience to scrape through.

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