Paes-Bhupathi chemistry explodes with another title

CHENNAI, April 11: In a glorious confluence of crowd power, ability and resilience, India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, for the thi...

CHENNAI, April 11: In a glorious confluence of crowd power, ability and resilience, India8217;s Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, for the third night running, came back from a set down to beat Wayne Black Zimbabwe and Neville Godwin South Africa 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, to retain the doubles title in the ATP Gold Flake Open tennis tournament, here on Sunday.

Incredible as it may seem, Paes and Bhupathi, struggling to fire after losing the first set, were lifted by the massive support from the packed stands to perform yet another of their patented magic of coming good when all looked lost, as was the case in their previous two matches.

The Indian pair, thus, achieved a hat-trick of victories, having won here in 1997 and 8217;98. But more than the statistics, Paes and Bhupathi would love to carry Chennai and Gold Flake Open with them in their quest for the World No 1 spot in doubles.

More importantly, in the background of the reported disputes, it was wonderful see the oncourt chemistry between the two, marked bychest-butting and the high-fives. Those were definite signs that the boys were getting their act together while heralding their ascendancy in the latter part of the second set.

On the other hand, Black and Godwin played tight for much of the first and second sets. A break of serve in the seventh saw them pouch the first set. In the second, games went with serves until the Indians broke Black in the 12th game to make it one-set all.

The third set had a quiet beginning with the pairs sharing the opening four games on serve. Then came a crucial moment which turned the tide, by hindsight, in the Indians8217; favour. Black fired a down-the-line return of Paes8217; serve. The linesman called it good, but the Indians thought it was wide by a mile. Had the decision stood, then Black-Godwin would have been up by a break at 3-2.

However, after a brief hold-up, the return was ruled out and deuce was called. Paes held serve to go 3-2 up. Thereafter, both pairs held serve with the Indians holding a slight edge leading 5-4.Then came the critical break of Black8217;s serve which clinched the match.

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Black-Godwin managed to save a matchpoint at 15-40, but Black misjudged a high return from Paes. The ball fell inches inside the backline and a desparate Black ran around the ball and essayed a lob which was long. That set off the celebrations which are bound to continue late into the night.

Tonight8217;s victory was worth 28,900 and 160 ATP points for Paes and Bhupathi, while Black-Godwin took home 16,800 and 115 points.