Three aces in hand, gold at stake

For the top-seeded pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, though, it took less sweat and less time to chalk out a 6-2, 6-4 victory over fifth-seeded Filipinos Cecil Mamat and Frederick Taino. The seedings have held true here. The Indians come up against Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana, the Thai second seeds who beat seventh seeds Woong Sun Jun and Sun Young Kim of Korea 6-1, 6-1 to make the final.

Then there was the mixed doubles fare. Leander and Sania overcame Xinyuan Yu and Tiantian Sun of China to reach the final in this as well. Their 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win makes it a big day for India on the courts on Wednesday; the chance is there to pocket three gold medals.

Sania has been playing true to form in these Games. She has been able to cover the court very well, her ground strokes are surer and even though her first serves remain suspect, points from service games aren8217;t any lower. Moreover, she has been able to add to her repertoire at the net.

She broke Li in the opening game of the semi-final and then again in the fifth. It was a trifle surprising, considering the fact that she is the first Chinese player to break into the top 20 in WTA rankings 2006 and at this year8217;s Wimbledon she reached the quarters before being beaten by Belgium8217;s Kim Clijsters. Her two-handed backhands are supposed to be pretty effective, but they rarely were today.

Li looked disinterested or was suffering from an injury that she did not wish to talk about. She would not force herself into rallies, or reach for the long baseline ones. Good for Sania, for it was 8220;a very important win.8221; It is surely comeback time for Sania, who has hit 31 in her career, but is now 67. She is fitter, for sure, but these Games are giving her ample confidence.

Li was broken in the third and fifth games of the second set and Sania always managed to hold her serve. It was all she needed. 8220;We have always had great competition,8221; she said, 8220;and we are great friends. We gain from each other. My play has been good and this win gives me a lot of confidence. Whoever I meet in the final, this has been a god win.8221;

There was a problem with the unruly crowd, which, in its wayward effort to support India only managed to add to decibel level, way above permissible limits. Early warnings were never heeded and most India matches have since been moved to centre court to handle the crowd pressure. 8220;Yes, the noise the crowd made did distract me,8221; said Sania, 8220;but they also helped me win.8221; There is a diplomat growing in the young star, it seems.

Paes and Bhupathi remained relaxed at the end of their doubles foray. It remained unimportant, Leander said later, 8220;I am bothered about how we play in the final.8221; That makes sense, considering the worrying smoke signals that came out during the team events. 8220;We take it from match to match, and today we played a good game and hope we can keep up to it,8221; he added. They won every net rally, and ruled the baseline. Some of Taino8217;s serves were worrying, racing through as they did, but the rest came easy.

The only problem that remains is in Bhupathi. He has yet to sandpaper his rusty areas. His volleying comes from memory, but his baseline work is suffering because of the obvious lack of fitness. His retrieval acts are slow and his slowing of reflexes shows in his inability to hold fort in a quick net-rally, things one remembers from old Lee-Hesh endeavours.

The Filipino pair was no match, hence the Indians could play easy, but against second seeds Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana there could be problems.

Interestingly, it8217;s the mixed doubles pair that got most of the attention after trouble between Paes and Bhupathi. It is unlikely that Paes and Sania will pair up for the circuit, given their widely differing schedules, but the way they have combined has added to the speculation nevertheless.

They faced little trouble against the Chinese pair who were confused as to their roles on court. It is evident, since Xinyuan Yu and Tiantian Sun don8217;t play mixed doubles together. On that count, Leander and Sania have picked up pretty remarkably. They broke the Chinese in the seventh and ninth games without having to work hard.