King Pair

Watching Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi play together is refreshing. In a sport that8217;s fiercely individual, the duo brings in a famil...

Watching Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi play together is refreshing. In a sport that8217;s fiercely individual, the duo brings in a familiarity that appears so much in tune on court. And teaming up for the country, Lee 038; Hesh make sure that they give their team an edge everytime.

While Prakash Amritraj extended the lead given by Harsh Mankad on day one by thrashing Yu Wang Jr 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the second singles, the 8216;8216;Indian Express8217;8217; gave their team an unassailable 3-0 lead in the doubles tie 8212; beating Yu Wang Jr and Ben-Quiang Zhu 7-6 13-11, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 8212; to keep alive India8217;s hopes of re-entering the world group.

Sure, Prakash was stronger and more athletic in his court coverage. Sure, Harsh was more solid, coming up with a winner again and again for the entire duration, just under two hours.

But in coming back from a lost set, in holding their nerve to take the first set after the longest tie-breaker for Indian tennis in more than a decade 8212; 13-11, the last one being 12-10 in 1993 8212; Lee-Hesh proved that experience and understanding have no substitute.

They may be playing together after more than six months 8212; they last teamed up for the Athens Olympics 8212; and Leander may still be recovering from a 2-month old injury, but that was hardly apparent in their performance on court.

8216;8216;Motivating oneself at this level is tough, but I am aware of my responsibilty to my country, and that helps enough to put your best,8217;8217; said Mahesh after the match.

8216;8216;Mahesh has one of the best returns in the game, but both of us had to adjust to a higly uneven and scratchy surface,8217;8217; Leander said. 8216;8216;We played as well as the surface let us play,8217;8217; replied Mahesh. Not a mutual admiration society this, but definitely a pair where one knows the other8217;s game as well as himself.

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Off-court too, there were the unmistakable signs of a pair of senior sportsmen more intent on ensuring that they the younger lot was comfortable. When Harsh replied that all he had to do on the chair was to 8216;8216;organise their drinks8217;8217; and 8216;8216;trying to say as little as needed8217;8217;, he got a pleasing rebuke. 8216;8216;All you did was to point out what was going wrong on court, what8217;s wrong with that8217;8217; said Leander.

The youngsters may have proven themselves 8212; his faith in them had been 8216;8216;vindicated8217;8217;, Leander said 8212; but the duo still remain India8217;s trump card in Davis Cup at present. The way they played 8212; perfect co-ordination in movement, service and volleys and the occasional shouts of 8216;8216;you take8217;8217; 8212; were enough to reassure that the magic is still there.

As for the match, Lee and Hesh missed out on two break points in the third and fifth games each of the first set, but then wrapped up the second set 6-3.

With a straight sets win looming, the Chinese pair came back to break Mahesh in the sixth game, enough to claim the set. But that was just about it. The Indians appeared in a hurry after that, thrashing the inexperienced opponents 6-1.

Spain toppled

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BRATISLAVA: Slovakia ousted Davis Cup holders Spain on Saturday, winning the doubles match in their World Group first round tie to take an unassailable 3-0 lead. Karol Beck and Michal Mertinak clinched the heroic upset with a tight 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 win over Rafael Nadal and Alberto Costa after Dominik Hrbaty and Beck had put the upstart Slovaks 2-0 ahead in the opening singles on Friday.

8216;8216;The Spaniards fought hard, it8217;s rare to see resistance that is so tough,8217;8217; Slovak captain Miroslav Mecir said.