Bhupathi makes it two majors in a row

After splitting the first two sets, Bhupathi and Mirnyi broke the Czechs for a 3-1 advantage in the third. But a controversial line call in the next game got Novak and Stepanek back on serve.

Mirnyi was incensed and the irate pair requested that tournament referee Brian Earley be summoned to the court, but Earley refused to overrule the umpire. Both teams held serve until the 10th game when Stepanek was broken to love, giving Mirnyi and Bhupathi the victory in 96 minutes.

Playing only their ninth tournament as a team, Bhupathi and Mirnyi had reached three finals this year before breaking through at Flushing Meadows. They will split the first prize of $350,000.

This is Bhupathi’s fourth career grand slam men’s doubles title, having won the previous three with Leander Paes, but his first U.S. Open crown. Mirnyi, who lost to Andre Agassi in the singles quarter-finals on Wednesday, teamed with Lleyton Hewitt to win the 2000 U.S. Open doubles title.

Novak and Stepanek, who paired up in February, had upset second seeds Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer and fourth seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge en route to their second final as a team.