There is something in the Chennai air which produces magic for Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, India's iconic doubles pair
There is something in the Chennai air which produces magic for Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, India's iconic doubles pair.
They were dead and buried with Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka and his partner Frank Dancevic of Canada leading 6-3 with three match points in the second set tie-break after they had pocketed the first set 6-3 but Lee and Hesh rose from the ashes to produce a Houdini-like comeback and to go on and win the match 3-6 7-6 (10-8) 10-4 (super tie-break) and book a place in the doubles quarter-finals of the Chennai Tennis Open.
The sparse gathering at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium stayed up till the wee hours of today morning to watch the top seeds and they were in for a treat.
Wawrinka and Dancevic played awesome tennis for almost two sets. They served big, Wawrinka belted backhand return winners and everything looked rosy for the Swiss-Canadian combination. But the match turned on its head in the second set tie-break as the inexperienced Dancevic cracked under pressure.
Serving at 6-3, Bhupathi drilled a backhand return winner and on the next point the Canadian tamely netted a
forehand volley. Paes slammed an ace to save the third matchpoint. Another matchpoint came and went and Wawrinka, the Olympic doubles champion, had a chance at 8- all, but he slammed an easy forehand long before Paes-Bhupathi clinched the second set tie-break as Dancevic again faltered with the volley.
Comeback
Bhupathi who seemed a tad slow at the net for most of the first and second sets came to life in the super tie-break. He hit crisp volleys and his return was finding the corners. Paes began serving up aces and also cranking winners, while also knocking off volleys with aplomb.
Once the shaky Dancevic double-faulted on the very first point of the super tie-break it was time for the floodgates to open as the Indians bulldozed their way to power to a 10-4 win.
"I am really thankful to the Chennai crowd for staying up so late to watch our match, their constant cheering spurred us to victory. We never gave up Chennai which was the scene of our first ATP triumph. Chennai has always been so special so we knew we would fight till the very last point," signed off an exhausted Paes.
