Beating Paes-Bhupathi is sweet revenge: Federer

Roger Federer was fuelled by a drive to settle a four-year-old score with the Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi and having just done that, the Swiss icon is feeling relieved.

Roger Federer was fuelled by a drive to settle a four-year-old score with the Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi and having just done that, the Swiss icon is feeling relieved.

Moments after beating Paes and Bhupathi in the quarterfinal of the men’s doubles event at the Beijing Olympics, Federer said the win soothed the wounds created by the defeat he and his partner Yves Allegro had to digest against the Indians in Athens Olympic Games.

“It was a sweet revenge today because I lost to them with Yves Allegro four years ago in Athens,” said Federer, who looked in sublime form throughout the match which he and his Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka won 6-2, 6-4.

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“I mean we expected it to be much tougher but in a best two-out-of-three set doubles match anything can happen and we know that. Maybe the classic doubles teams are into the semifinals of the Olympic Games and we have a great challenge coming up,” Federer said.

Asked if Thursday night’s rain-interruption, when the Swiss were leading 4-1, snapped the rhythm, Federer said, “I think the lead was important. It was good to sleep well and start off in a positive mindset and continue what we have been doing.”

Wawrinka, on the other hand, felt he has struck the right chord with Federer, which he felt was the reason behind their facile win against the Indians.

“It has been a great tournament for us. We’ve played well and we improved a lot during the last match. They (Paes-Bhupathi) were a very good doubles team but we played together and played incredible tennis. Getting to play with world number one player is a huge opportunity and it’s great to be together in the court and hear the crowd root for us,” Wawrinka added.