The Hindu : Sport : Leander, Mahesh too good for Uzbeks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

Sport

Sport

Leander, Mahesh too good for Uzbeks

Kamesh Srinivasan

- PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT

DOUBLE DELIGHT: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who made short work of the Uzbek doubles challenge, is congratulated by Harsh Mankad.

JAIPUR: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi proved too good for Uzbekistan, despite not being at their best, as India took an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group `I' second round tie at the Jai Club courts here on Saturday.

The multiple Grand Slam winners and the former world No.1 pair, Leander and Mahesh dropped serve only once on way to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Denis Istomin and Murad Inoyatov in an hour and 46 minutes.

"We didn't try to do anything fancy. The idea was to play solid. It was just another day in the office,'' said Leander, who kicked off the contest with an ace. Quite appropriately, Mahesh wound up the show with an ace. Interestingly, those two were the only aces from the Indian side this day.

Better fight

The Uzbeks put up a much better fare than what they had done in the singles. Except for a clutch of doublefaults in the first set, the Uzbeks served and volleyed with purpose to make it an entertaining affair for the spectators who had braved the sun on a bright afternoon.

"The sun was in the eye, and we had to find a way out. Am happy to be finished with it. When we broke early, we saw them hanging their heads,'' said Mahesh who was the one to be broken in the second set.

The Uzbek camp felt that it had a chance to win the second set after Istomin and Inoyatov broke back in the fourth game on dropping serve in the third.

"In some moments, we were on top of them. There were some good points. Of course, they play great doubles'', said Inoyatov.

The Indian pair played with renewed verve on dropping serve and did not offer any more hope for the Uzbek team to get back into the match. The Indian captain was pleased to wrap up the tie on the second day itself, after having expected a tough fight from the Uzbeks.

Captain pleased

"I am always happy when the boys prove me wrong. I expected the Uzbeks to show a little more grit and fighting spirit. They folded up for lack of mental strength'', observed Leander.

The Uzbek captain Vadim Kutsenko said that it was a learning experience for his young team, and that he would field Murad Inoyatov in place of Istomin in the reverse singles on Sunday.

Leander, however, had not made up his mind about playing on the third day, and said that he would discuss with the team and make a decision on the morrow.

Fielding Harsh Mankad in a dead rubber may not serve any purpose, while Leander can inch closer to Ramanathan Krishnan's record of 50 singles wins by opting to play. A win on Sunday will take Leander's singles wins to 47 and the overall tally to 75 that would put him eighth in the all-time list of successful Davis Cuppers.

Records

"The record means a lot to me. I have a responsibility to the team, and also keep an eye on rewriting the record books. It is an incentive for me to play. It is going to be very difficult for the modern players to reach that record in Davis Cup,'' said Leander.

The Indian captain also stated that there was a good chance of India hosting the World Group play-off match in September.

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

Sport