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From left: Susan, Robert,David Miriam & Rachel Grossman and Andy Ram

LONDON (Reuters) - Dmitriy Salita will take the belt that is rightfully his when he faces Briton Amir Khan for the WBA light-welterweight title on Saturday, the Ukraine-born boxer said.

The unbeaten Salita, who moved to New York when he was nine, is the mandatory challenger for champion Khan who won the crown by beating Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik in July.

"I should have had the chance at Kotelnik first," the challenger told Sky Sports on Tuesday. "Amir is a very good boxer but I was the number one contender before.

"Amir has my belt and I've trained very hard to take it and will do whatever is necessary to bring it back home with me."

Khan, a silver medallist at the 2004 Olympics in the lightweight division, has lost just once in 22 fights since turning professional, a devastating first-round knockout against Colombia's Breidis Prescott in September 2008.

After beating Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera in March he moved up to light-welterweight and was given the chance to fight for the WBA title against Kotelnik, taking a unanimous points decision after a flawless display.

Salita will be a tough opponent for Khan in Newcastle, having won 31 of his 32 professional fights and drawn the other.

"Even if he's ready he's going to have a lot of trouble," said the challenger. "More so if he hasn't taken the fight seriously.

"I've been around world champions since I was a little kid so I always knew this moment would come. More so than any other fight I know what I'm getting into and I feel calm about it.

"Khan's a chinny guy and there's nothing he can do about, it's just the way he's built," added Salita.

London: Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram sailed into the doubles final with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win against Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals being held at the O2 Arena here.

Mirnyi and Ram who had topped Group A followed a better record at the end of the round robin matches, had not much of a problem against a pair that had shown signs of being able to compete against the best here.

The win for the seventh seeds against the Czech-Slovak pair was complete in an hour and 33 minutes of engrossing tennis. And barring for some occasions, the semifinal never saw the pairing of Ram and Mirnyi – who have announced they are going separate ways next season - being stretched.

Ram and Mirnyi will now await the winners of the second semifinal that was to be played later on Saturday between third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles and second seeds Bob and Mike Bryan from the US.

Mirnyi and Ram stuck to a percentage game, not taking too many chances against an opposing pair that is capable of beating the best. They got their first break early and Ram and Mirnyi went on to hold and win the set easily.

The second was more compact as the Czech and Slovak put everything in it to try and break even. But Ram and Mirnyi stuck to their gameplan and then took the tie-break at 7-4 to seal a fine victory and ensure their first final together.

Result: (Doubles semifinal) Max Mirnyi/Andy Ram bt Frantisek Cermak/Michal Mertinak 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram secured their place in the last four of the ATP World Tour Finals by beating Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes at the O2 Arena in London.

Mirnyi and Ram saw off the double Grand Slam champions 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 to make it two wins from their three matches.

Ram told the tournament website: "At the crucial times, when we needed the points, we controlled it and we're happy to have got through."

Andy Ram and Max Mirnyi took a significant step towards advancing to the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London, England, on Monday, defeating number 2 seeds, Bob and Mike Bryan, 6-4, 6-4 in the doubles tournament opener.

Despite the convincing straight-sets victory, Ram will not be getting ahead of himself just yet.

The Israeli also won his first round robin match in his two previous appearances in the prestigious season-ending tournament only to eventually miss out on a semifinal berth.

His showings in what was then known as the Masters Cup came in 2006 and 2007 with regular partner Yoni Erlich.

Superb serving was the key to the Israeli/Belarusian duo's impressive victory on Monday. Ram and Mirnyi got 78 percent of their first serves in and subsequently won 33 of 38 points.

"Be aggressive, play with energy," Ram answered when asked of the team's tactics in Monday's victory. "The Bryans always play with high energy. You have to keep up the same intensity.

"We did that well today. We have to serve very well against the Bryans and stay all the time ahead, if you can. When they're ahead, it's tough to catch up."

Despite being broken in the second game of the match, Ram and Mirnyi fought right back and reeled off the next four games.

The duo trailed 0-30 when serving for the set in the 10th game, but didn't give the Americans a chance to break back and a Ram smash clinched the first set.

Ram and Mirnyi began the second set with a break and never looked back. The Bryans failed to reach a single break point in the second set and a Mirnyi ace wrapped up the win.

"Today was a good day for us," said Mirnyi. "We did what we wanted to do and managed to execute the game plan we had. So when that happens, it's a good indication for our game.

"We're here to play our best tennis," the 32-year-old righthander added.

"In the round-robin format, we know we're going to be in for three matches, and we want to make sure we do our best each point at a time, each game at a time, and see what happens at the end of the round robin.

"We certainly are happy, excited, confident about playing this tournament, and look forward to winning every match we can play."

Mirnyi - Ram Vignette