Dubai: The last two times Marcin Matkowski played with a temporary partner, he managed to win and hold aloft the trophy.

On Friday, Matkowski teamed up with India’s Rohan Bopanna — a former two-time doubles Dubai champion — to get past Leander Paes and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 and book their place in Saturday’s final.

In 2016, Matkowski teamed up with Marcel Granollers to win the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.

Earlier this year, the big-hitting Pole came together with Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi to defeat Jonathan Erlich and Scott Lipsky 1-6, 6-2, 10-3 for the ASB Classic in Auckland.

“And now it is Bops [Rohan Bopanna] in the final for a third title. I am feeling lucky and I hope we can make it a hat-trick tomorrow,” Matkowski told Gulf News.

The first semi-final was far from easy for the Indo-Polish combination despite a mid-set break on Paes’s serve for a 3-1 lead that eventually helped them to 6-3 in the first set. Paes and Garcia-Lopez came roaring back in the second with Matkowski failing to hold in the eighth and Garcia-Lopez serving out the set in 28 minutes.

Paes and Garcia-Lopez started the super tie-breaker strongly and led 5-1. But Matkowski and Bopanna suddenly found their bearings with some superb returns and strong serves to run away with the tie-break and the match 10-6. “We are always happy to be in a final in Dubai as this feels so much like home with the crowd backing,” Bopanna said.

“There is only one match left and why not finish off with a win?” chipped in Matkowski.

The Pole further cautioned that Saturday’s final, irrelevant of the opponents, will be a tough ask. “It’s not going to be easy for sure, no matter who we will be playing. Both are going to equally tough. But the good thing is that we know we are playing well and we know we can beat any of the two pairs tomorrow. We just need to show it on the court,” he added.

The second semi-final was to be played later on Friday night with top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers taking on fourth seeds, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.

RESULT

Rohan Bopanna/Marcin Matkowski bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez/Leander Paes 6-3, 3-6, 10-6.