In the Australian Open on Thursday, Mahesh Bhupathi chose to downplay his being on the edge of a career Grand Slam and what could have been a sparkling summit clash against Leander Paes.

Bhupati said after partnering Mark Knowles of the Bahamas to reach the men’s doubles final in the year’s first major, “I still have one more match to go.”

In the semi-finals, third seeded Bhupati and his partner Knowles beat Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Oliver Marach of Austria 6-3, 6-1.

As of now, Bhupathi has a Wimbledon, a US Open and two French Open titles in his kitty, and his winning the Australian Open would put him in an exclusive club.

A source explained, “Bhupathi’s success was followed by the 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Paes and Lukas Dlouhy, of the Czech Republic, to American twins Bob and Mike Bryan in the other semi-final.”

Saturday will see the doubles final but before that Bhupai is supposed to play the mixed doubles semifinals on Friday. There, he and Sania Mirza will compete with Dlouhy and Iveta Benesova.