Leander Paes has remained the lone flag bearer for India as he and his American partner Meghann Shaughnessy made it to the finals of the mixed doubles, while Sania Mirza faltered in the women’s doubles quarterfinals of the US Open.

The Indo-American pair defeated the US-British combo of Liezel Huber and Jamie Murray 6-7, 7-6, 10-5 to seal victory in the tie breaker.

After losing the first set, the Indo-US duo came out all gun blazing to secure the second set and took the next game in the tie-breaker where they came out triumph in the duel that lasted two hours and 20 minutes.

Paes-Shaughnessy combo though committed many unforced errors, but got off the hook on the basis of higher break points conversion and better second serve percentage.

The unseeded Indo-American pair will now take on all Belarusian combination of Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi, who have incidentally defeated the other Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza in the quarterfinals of the event.

Meanwhile, Sania’s roller coaster campaign in the US Open came to an end as she and her American partner Bethanie Mattek crashed out of the women’s doubles quarterfinals losing a three setter to Chinese Taipei pair of Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang.

The 16th seeded Indo-US pair were outplayed 3-6, 6-3, 4-6 by their fifth seeded Chinese Taipei pair in a contest that lasted two hour and 13 minutes.