New Delhi, July 31 - India's men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas cruised into the final of the New Zealand Open Grand Prix badminton in Auckland Friday.

According to information received here, top seeds Rupesh and Sanave took 30 minutes to register a 21-15, 21-14 win over Malaysia's Teik Chai Gan and Bin Shen Tan in the semi-final.

A title win will boost the Indian pair's confidence ahead of the World Championships in Hyderabad beginning Aug 10.

The Indian pair, who finished runners-up at the Australian Open Grand Prix last week, will face fourth-seeded Japanese pair Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata in the final. Hashimoto and Hirata stunned second seeds Fernando Kurniawan and Lingga Lie of Indonesia 21-16, 17-21, 21-17 in the other semi-final.

There was disappointment in store for the women's pair of Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurian. Balan and Kurian, who were also runners-up in Australia, lost 19-21, 15-21 to top seeds Tsz Ka Chan and Ying Suet Tse of Hong Kong in a 27-minute semi-final contest.