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Leander Paes-Rohan Bopanna keep India's chances alive

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India’s Leander Paes (R) and Rohan Bopanna celebrate after scoring a point against Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac in Bangalore on Saturday
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You could sense it coming. But then you thought to yourself: how could two players who till recently refused to see eye to eye, let alone share a court, indulge in a passionate chest thump? Maybe that's why they call it sport. Or maybe, that's what Leander Paes can do to you.

Outplayed and outthought in the first two sets and in the early part of the third, Paes, Rohan Bopanna and the packed Saturday crowd seemed destined for an early exit. What followed was a fightback of the highest quality, one that would have made the tennis gods stand up and applaud with jaws dropped.

Paes, who at 40-something could put teenagers to shame with his fitness levels; he, who proves time and again that his belly carries fire and not fat; he, who can inspire a dead man to stand up and play with him, combined beautifully with Bopanna to fashion a sensational 1-6 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3 8-6 win over a Serbian pair which stunned the Bryan brothers in their own backyard last year.

Yes, Nenad Zimonjic, the 38-year-old Paes-like champion got injured midway through the contest. Yes, the crowd cheered every mishit that came off his and Ilija Zimonjic's racquet. Yes, the engineer above wasn't in the mood to watch a couple of dead rubbers on Sunday. That said, it required a monumental effort from Paes and Bopanna to do what they did.

Here's a quick recap of the three-hour contest.

The first set was a blur. The teams traded breaks in the second before the Serbs upped their game in the tie-break to deflate the hosts. In the third, the Serbs broke early for a 3-2 lead. And then came the turning point. Zimonjic, clearly struggling with a back injury, failed to hold serve. That's the fillip the Indians needed. A smart change in tactics, which meant slowing down the play and thereby controlling it, India raced to claim the set 6-3.

The music got louder and the crowd wilder. AR Rehman was crooning; so was Daler Mehndi. Incredibly, India didn't face a single break point in the fourth. They duly converted the two that came their way.

Things went according to plan in the fifth, too. Serving to make it 5-4, Paes survived a few tense moments with his twitchy serve. And then came that chest thump. Even Mahesh Bhupathi would have smiled. The rest of the evening was tenser. Extraordinarily, there were no break points till the final game. But someone had to give in. And that man was Zimonjic. A series of poor serves made it 15-40. A wide forehand, also off his racquet, gave the crowd what it came for. Over to Yuki Bhambri and Somdev Devvarman for Sunday's reverse singles.
Result: Serbia 2 leads India 1 (L Paes/R Bopanna bt N Zimonjic/I Bozoljac 1-6 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3 8-6)

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