Top-seeded Minh Le and Wei-Yu Su took another step toward defending their tennis title at the Blue Moon Men's Night Doubles, dominating upset artists Chad Shibuya and Gregg Takata, 6-1, 6-2, last night at the Kailua Racquet Club.

The win set up a rematch with last year's runners-up Mikael Maata and Jan Axel Tribler, who defeated Jesse Paer and Bradley Lum-Tucker, 6-3, 6-4, in last night's other semifinal.

"We played solid," Le said. "We broke (serve) when we had to and we didn't get broken. To win in doubles, you have to make the other team move and you have to get the returns."

The keep-it-simple strategy worked well against Shibuya and Takata, the No. 8 seeds, who were coming off a tough upset of third-seeded Michael Bruggeman and Erich Chen, who won the tournament in 2003 and 2005. Takata, in particular, was hampered by stiffness in his back and abdomen.

Le and Su claimed the advantage early, breaking serve in Game 4 of the first set when Takata double-faulted.

With Su slamming back every softly hit offering at the net and Le mixing powerful volleys with cross-court finesse shots, the defending champs broke serve again in Game 6.

"They're a great team, but we made all of our shots," Su said.

Le and Su picked up where they left off in the second set, breaking serve again on a drop shot by Le that fell just inside the right sideline.

Takata and Shibuya rallied in the third game as Le and Su struggled to return Shibuya's serve. But Le and Su fought back from 0-30 to take the next game, then broke serve again in the following game.

Takata then took a medical break to attend to his fatigued abdominal muscles. He and Shibuya fell behind 5-1 in the set when a low shot by Su nipped the tape and fell in.

Yet, with the outcome of the match all but certain, Takata and Shibuya dug deep and fought through two extra-point ties to take the next game.

Le and Su finally closed out the match with a series of cross-court shots and lobs that forced the injured Takata to sprint along the baseline.

"I don't know if they were trying to get me to run around more," Takata said. "Their strategy was just hit it to me and win the point."

Le and Su, who paired for the first time at last year's tournament, will try to extend their record to 8-0 tomorrow night against Maata and Tribler.

Maata and Tribler were both tennis standouts at Hawai'i Pacific University. Su was a top player at Brigham Young-Hawai'i.

Like Le and Su, Maata and Tribler attributed their semifinal victory to solid, basic play.

"(Paer and Lum-Tucker) are big," Tribler said of the 6-foot-1/6-2 duo. "Big serves, big at the net. We won because we were able to keep the ball in play."

Said Maata: "They're really good and you can't give them any slack or they'll run you over. We tried to keep the pressure on them when they were serving."

Tribler and Maata said they felt there was a good chance they'd get another shot at Le and Su in the finals.

"We've just got to play to our strengths," Tribler said. "We just have to relax and have fun or we won't win."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.