The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Paes and Bhupathi recapture old magic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 03, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Paes and Bhupathi recapture old magic

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 2. It was a huge relief. For many who had been wondering whether two tournaments would be enough for Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to recapture old magic for their Olympic campaign, the champions gave a suitable answer by clinching the doubles' title in the $2.56 million Masters series tennis tournament in Toronto, Canada, early on Monday morning, Indian time.

The eighth-seeded Leander and Mahesh were in such robust form that they blasted two of the finest doubles players, the second-seeded Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, the current world No.1 doubles player, and the No.6 Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

"We played very high quality tennis in the last two rounds. It just shows that a lot of people were making a big deal out of nothing, by posing questions whether we had done the right thing in opting to play only two tournaments together before the Olympics," said Mahesh.

On his part, Leander was quite pleased with the strong return as a combination with Mahesh, and did not bother too much about what people thought or said, as the duo captured its 23rd title, apart from 32 finals. The victory was worth $102,000 for the pair.

A proud moment

"We are proud about this fantastic achievement. We were playing together after two years. We are jelling the way we used to, and it gives us a lot of confidence with the Olympics about 10 days away," said Leander.

The two had won the title in Mallorca (Spain) in May 2002, the last time they had played a tournament together on the Tour. Leander and Mahesh also won the Asian Games doubles gold later in the same year in Busan (Korea).

The Atlanta Olympics bronze medallist, Leander, observed that the basic idea of the two was to get a bunch of matches before the Olympics, and that irrespective of how they fared in the next tournament in Cincinnatti, it was very satisfying to get such a strong start in the preparation phase.

"To be honest, it felt as if we have been playing together all along. We are happy to have got the much needed match practice. Things are looking good," said Leander, as he highlighted that the pair had lost only one set in four matches in a strong field.

While Leander dismissed the anxiety of the sports followers back home, Mahesh was strong in his reaction, as he said, "leave the preparation to us. We know what we are doing. We have won a super-9 tournament and that shows we have been making the correct decisions, doing the right things, and preparing in earnest''.

The positive factor before the reunion in Toronto was that both Leander and Mahesh have been in good form, winning half a dozen titles between them with their regular partners David Rikl of the Czech Republic and Max Mirnyi. They had to just get back their rhythm as a pair, which they did in the last two rounds against world-class teams in Toronto.

It was the fifth title of the season and 36th career title from 58 finals for Mahesh, while it was 30th career title for Leander from 44 finals. Mahesh stayed at No.5 in the world doubles rankings behind Jonas Bjorkman, Todd Woodbridge of Australia, and the Bryan twins, Bob and Mike of the U.S. Leander jumped up nine places to be No. 20 in the world.

AP adds from Toronto

Roger Federer of Switzerland won his third straight title on Sunday, beating Andy Roddick of the United States 7-5, 6-3 in the final of the $2.5 million Tennis Masters Canada.

The top-ranked Federer, who won his eighth event of the year, extended his winning streak to 23 matches and raised his career record against the No. 2-ranked Roddick to 7-1.

``Andy, I'm sorry you didn't win another final,'' Federer said. ``But in the future I'm sure we'll play many, many more great matches and you'll get your fair share of them.''

Roddick defeated Federer in the semifinals of this event last year and went on to win the tournament. Since then, Roddick is 0-3 against Federer, including a four-set loss in the Wimbledon final.

``I'd like to congratulate Roger,'' Roddick said. ``You're certainly becoming very annoying.''

Federer was the more solid of the two before a sun-drenched sell-out crowd of 12,000 spectators at Rexall Centre. Roddick often went to the net, attempting to dictate the match, but was often thwarted by solid returns or passing shots.

``I thought I played the big points pretty well,'' Roddick said. ``He just made great shots.''

Davenport is champion

At Carlsbad, Lindsay Davenport of the United States defeated French Open champion Anastasia Myskina of Russia 6-1, 6-1 in the Acura Classic final on Sunday, extending her winning streak to 14 consecutive matches.

She also completed a California Slam for the second time in her career, equalling her feat of 1998, when she won hard-court tournaments at Stanford, Carlsbad and Los Angeles before winning her first U.S. Open title.

Davenport earned $189,000 and a new car; Myskina received $97,000.

Exhausted Myskina

Myskina checked out of the La Costa Resort and Spa, site of the Acura Classic, a little too early. Though the exact time was unavailable, it was most definitely before her final against Lindsay Davenport on Sunday.

Myskina played with little enthusiasm and none of the fight she showed in the dramatic semifinal victory the night before.

``I was really exhausted,'' Myskina said. ``I just couldn't find a way to fight. Lindsay played unbelievable and you have to play 200 per cent to beat her. I only played 50 per cent of my game.''

The results:

At Toronto (ATP Tennis Masters): Singles: Roger Federer bt Andy Roddick 7-5, 6-3. Doubles: Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi bt Jonas Bjorkman & Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-2.

At Carlsbad (Acura Classic): Lindsay Davenport bt Anastasia Myskina 6-1, 6-1.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News Update

Stories in this Section

Cricket

India's jinx in a final continues

A low-key reception

Vijay Bharadwaj to lead KSCA XI

Goa to host Ranji one-dayers

TCS enters final

Srikanth slams century

The great Indian debate

Arun Kumar completes double century