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Bhupathi-Sania storm into final

Tennis Correspondent

— PHOTO: AFP

STUPENDOUS SHOW: India’s Sania Mirza combined superbly with her mentor Mahesh Bhupathi to make the Australian Open mixed doubles final.

Melbourne: Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza, despite their limited experience playing together, outplayed Nathalie Dechy of France and Andy Ram of Israel, seeded eight, 6-4, 6-2 to make the mixed doubles final of the Australian Open on Friday.

A few years ago, the prospect of an Indian pair earning a shot at a mixed doubles Grand Slam title might have been laughable. But then, things are indeed changing in Indian tennis.

Bhupathi and Sania will play Nenad Zimonjic and Tiantian Sun in the final on Sunday.

But the only other Indian who was still in the running, Yuki Bhambri, went down 0-6, 7-5, 1-6 to the Australian fifth seed Bernard Tomic in the boys’ singles semifinals.

For someone who is playing in his first major event after a long layoff following the back surgery he underwent here last October, Mahesh Bhupathi has been striking the ball wonderfully well. Perhaps the relief that Dr. GregMallham’s knife has brought — both in the physical and psychological sense — has helped the 33-year old Banglorean reinvent himself as a champion doubles player.

“It has certainly put some life in my back,” said Bhupathi in the media dining room an hour after the victory.

Right through this championship, Bhupathi has been in impressive form. And, on Friday, he guided Sania carefully while putting on a grand show himself, especially at the net.

Dechy and Ram were brushed aside rather easily thanks to Bhupathi’s form. Sania, for her part, combined superbly with her mentor and manager.

The Indians found an early break in the first set and then faltered just a bit when serving out the set in the 10th game. But once they pocketed that set, Bhupathi and Sania were unstoppable. The Indian pair won four games in a row before their opponents held once.

Although Bhupathi lost serve in the following game, with Sania making a few volleying errors, and then Dechy held to 2-5, there was only one team in the match at that point. Sania served out the match without conceding a point in the eighth game and a few dozen Indian spectators at the Margaret Court Arena were ecstatic.

Bhambri goes down

Yuki Bhambri did very well to claw his way back into the match after losing the first set 6-0. He came out on top in a majority of the rallies in the second set, lost a chance to serve it out in the 10th game, but came back to close it out in the 12th.

But strangely enough, the Delhi teenager took his foot off the pedal early in the decider even as Tomic, cheered by hundreds of home fans, raced to a 5-0 lead.

The muscular big-built Aussie threatened to re-enact the script of the opening set but Bhambri held to 1-5 before the Aussie wrapped up the contest.

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