India's Sania Mirza and Alisa Kleybanova of Russia battled their way into the final of the girls' doubles at Wimbledon on Friday, beating Ally Baker and Iris Ichim of the United States.
The Indo-Russian pair, who had beaten Emma Laine of Finland and Nadja Pavic of Crotia 6-1, 6-2 in the quarter-finals, won 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Games went with serve in the first set till Mirza and Kleybanova effected the first break in the eighth game to go up 5-3. They then held serve to take the set 6-3.
In the second set, Mirza and partner broke their opponents in the first and third games to race to a 3-0 lead. Backer and Ichim looked like making a fight of the match as they held a break-point in the fourth game and forced duece a couple of times. But the Indo-Russian pair held their nerve and served out the set to go up 4-0.
Games then went with serve and just when it appeared that the Indo-Russian pair would cruise home, they got complacent and were broken in the eighth game.
Backer and Ichim broke again in the tenth game to level the scores 5-5, and again in the 12th, to take the second set.
The decider was a battle royal as both pairs held serve for the first six games before Mirza and Kleybanova effected a break in the seventh to go up 4-3. But the Americans broke back immediately at love to level at 4-4.
Mirza and Kleybanova hit back in the next, returning the break to lead 5-4. They then served out the set after wasting three set points to take the match at 6-4.
In the other semi-final, Katerina Bohmova of Czech Republic and Michaela Krajicek of the Netherlands will face Megan Falcon of the US and Adriana Gonzalez Penas of Spain.
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