Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NOTTINGHAM, Sept 26: World third ranked pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came up trumps in two nail-biting tie-breakers to beat the British duo of Tim Henman and Neil Broad and bring India back into reckoning in the Davis Cup World Group qualifying play-off at the Tennis Centre courts here today.
Combining well and putting in a display of superb power play with deft placements, Paes and Bhupathi got the better of the British pair 7-6 7-2 3-6 7-6 7-3 to narrow England8217;s lead to 2-1 in the crucial Davis Cup match.8220;The win in the doubles might act as a potion for Leander and Bhupathi in tomorrow8217;s crucial reverse singles,8221; a jubiliant non-playing India captain, Jaideep Mukherjea told PTI.
After the visitors had lost both the singles yesterday, the doubles clash produced exhilarating tennis before a partisan sell out crowd.
Striking a good rhythm, Paes and Bhupathi broke the Britons in the sixth game of the opening set to take a 3-2 lead but the duo clawed back breaking Bhupathi8217;s serve to draw level 3-3.
The games then went with serves and the tie-breaker was applied. Paes, initiating the tie breaker, came up with a good serve to make it 1-0 in India8217;s favour. However, Henman came up with two sizzling aces to make it 2-1.
The Indians then rallied well on Bhupathi8217;s serve with some good cross court placements to make it 3-2 and increased it to 4-2.
The crack doubles pair then raced to a 7-2 lead to clinch the first set in India8217;s favour.
The second set saw the Indians at their meekest, with both repeatedly double faulting and netting returns as the home crowd started pitching loudly for Henman and Broad. To top a bad display, Paes and Bhupathirepeatedly ran into each others8217; way, clashing rackets in confusion.
Capitalising on the visitors lapses, the British pair broke them in the first and fourth games to take the set at 6-3 and draw parity at one-all after the second set.
In the decider, the games went with the serves till the 12th game when the Englishmen came within a whisker of clinching the duel.
The highly-rated Indians survived that and saved two more match points before Paes8217; powerful serve was netted by Broad to make it 6-6 to take the match into the tie-breaker.
Once Paes put India ahead 4-2, the Indian tightened the stranglehold before Bhupathi came up with a superb return of Henman8217;s serve to signal India8217;s victory.
Henman summed it up later saying, 8220;they brought off some great shots at the right time and I think they raised their game fractionally in both tie-breakers.8221;
