Bhupathi, Mirza win mixed doubles

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PARIS -- Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi of India won the mixed doubles title Thursday with a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Klaudia Jans-Ignacik of Poland and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico.

The 2009 Australian Open champions rallied from a 5-3 deficit to force a tiebreaker in the first set before cruising in the second.

Jans-Ignacik and Gonzalez were playing their first Grand Slam final.

Meanwhile, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan moved one victory away from their 12th Grand Slam doubles title, beating Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi of Pakistan and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands 6-3, 7-6 (6) Thursday to reach the French Open final.

The Bryans, who won the 2003 title at Roland Garros, will face defending champions Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada.

Mirnyi and Nestor eliminated Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali of Italy 6-3, 6-4.

"Expectations are a lot higher," Bob Bryan said. "I remember when we made the quarters in '02. ... 'Great tournament, guys. Awesome job.' And that's how we felt in '02. Now if we don't come in and win, we're taking swings at each other back at the hotel."

In women's doubles, Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova defeated defending champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a semifinal that was suspended because of darkness Wednesday, tied at one set apiece.

In Friday's final, the Russians will play Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy, who were the runners-up at the Australian Open in January.

Errani became the first player since Kim Clijsters in 2003 to reach the final both in singles and doubles at Roland Garros.

She beat U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the singles semifinals on Thursday.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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