Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi win Davis Cup doubles

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi salvaged India’s hopes with a 6-4 7-6(5) 6-1 doubles rubber victory over Bruno Soares and Marcello Melo of Brazil in the Davis Cup World Group playoff at the SDAT Nugambakkam Stadium on Saturday.

Mellowed and matured over long years of professional tennis, albeit different partners, the Indian pair hugged and patted each other. They even exchanged their trademark chest bump on winning a crucial point in the second set.

With Brazil winning both the long-drawn out singles on the opening day on Friday, the score reads 2-1 in favour of the visiting team.

India’s chances will now hinge on Somdev Devvarman beating Thomaz Bellucci in the first reverse singles on Sunday. Rohan Bopanna will play Ricardo Mello in the last reverse singles.

“When we play together we create magic because as seasoned players we get to do the same things that we did in 1997. But a magician doesn’t perform everyday,” Leander and Mahesh replied to persistent questions on the prospects of their pairing up again in the professional circuit.

“We respect what we have done together and what we have done individually. We are both in a happy position and will now play together again in Bangkok in preparation for the Commonwealth Games,” they said.

The magicians in fact conjured up their 23rd Davis Cup doubles win in-a-row. “Somdev’s match tomorrow morning is crucial for us and if he wins anything can happen in Davis Cup,” Leander said.

“Somdev can beat any player on his day and Rohan is also in fine nick. We should have been 2-0 up on Friday, but unfortunately we lost both the matches. Hopefully, things should pan out better for us tomorrow,” non-playing captain SP Mishra said.

“They played very well and both of them were returning well. They had a good start and went 4-0 up in the first set. We started playing better after we broke Mahesh, but they managed to take the set,” Soares said.

“The second set was very close and we played much better. But Mahesh hit a great shot to win the tie-breaker at 7-5. After being two sets down, it became very difficult for us and they also got an early break in the third,” he added.

Leander and Mahesh recreated the “magic” of 1997 when they won the doubles title at the Chennai Open in April catapulting them to one of the most feared doubles pairs in the world till they split up due to personal reasons.

Mahesh and Leander had also won the Chennai Open doubles titles in 1998, 1999 and 2002 at the same venue. They have then been playing with different partners thereafter only pairing up for the Davis Cup.

The Indian pair got off to a flying start in the first set taking a 4-0 lead. They broke the Brazilians once each and held on to their respective serves much to the delight of the cheering home crowd. The second set was won by the Brazilians in a tie-breaker.

The Indians then went for the big points in the third set and took a 3-0 lead by breaking Melo’s serve on a double fault. Melo again lost his serve in the sixth game as the Indians went 5-1 up. The Brazilians made a last ditch effort in the seventh game served by Leander.

Leander and Mahesh withstood the pressure and calmed their nerves to wrap up the set and the match in two hours and 15 minutes.