Number one rank awaits Bhupathi

Mumbai, March 21: India's Mahesh Bhupathi is on the threshold of becoming the top-ranked doubles player in the world. Bhupathi and Leande...

Mumbai, March 21: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi is on the threshold of becoming the top-ranked doubles player in the world. Bhupathi and Leander Paes are top seeds in the doubles draw of the $2.5 million Key Biscayne Super Nine at Florida. They play B Coupe and M Merklein in their first match tomorrow, after a bye in the first round, according to information available here.

If things go according to the draw, Paes and Bhupathi will meet fourth seeds E Ferreira and R Leach in the top half semi-final. Leach and Ferreira had accounted for the Indian pair last week at Indian Wells.

A win in the tournament should give the Indian pair sufficient points to gain the top two spots in doubles rankings. Bhupathi is currently ranked second with 3905 points, while Paes is third with 3864. Paul Haarhius (4169) is ahead of them.

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Paes and Bhupathi are ranked 97 and 323 respectively in the ATP singles chart.

Meanwhile, Nirupama Vaidyanathan (175), currently playing in Europe, blew a matchpoint in the second set, to crash inthe first round of the $25,000 Reims Challenger (France) to Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia 6-3 6-7 6-7. Nirupama, pairing with Lubomira Bacheva (Bulgaria) went down in the doubles first round too, to Spanish pair Eva Bes and Rosa Andres 7-5 2-6 5-7.

Nirupama and Bacheva had reached the doubles semi-final at Biel, Switzerland last week, before losing to Nora Kores and Dragana Zaric 6-4 6-7 3-6. Nirupama will now play a Challenger in Dinans, France, next week, followed by the Estoril Open in Portugal.

(Source: Bhupathi website)