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'Indian Express' steams ahead

The duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, after a few bad outings over the last few weeks, appear to be back in their "Indian Express" groove.

In the first round of the ongoing US Open, 'Lee' and 'Hesh', seeded fourth, defeated the unseeded Latin American pairing of Fernando Meligeni (Brazil) and Mariano Puerta (Argentina) 7-5, 7-6(6)

At the outset, though, it looked like the Indian pair's slump in form was continuing. Bhupathi, the stronger of the two when it comes to service games, was broken in the second game. Trouble piled on trouble when, down a break already, they found themselves facing breakpoint.

This was perhaps the turning point of the game, as the two friends roared back, holding on to the threatened serve, and took the offensive to their opponents to break them to love in the next game. Leander and Mahesh then won six of the next seven games to wrap the set up at 7-5.

In the second set, the Indian pair repeatedly threatened their opponents' service games, coming close to the break time and again without, however, managing to complete the job. On the plus side, though, they held their own serves with ease except in game 5, when they fought back from break point to hold.

This pushed the set into the tie break, with a mini-break seeing the Indians down 1-3. However, they fought back to reel off six of the next eight points, to take the set and, with it, the match, 7-5.

The Indians will now play Karsten Braasch (Germay) and Marcos Ondruska (South Africa) in the second round.

For the Indians, a further fillip came from the fact that the top seeded pair of Jacco Eltingh and Ellis Ferreira have withdrawn from the Open, Eltingh's wife having just delivered a baby.

For Eltingh -- who, with Paul Haarhuis is ranked number one in the world in doubles -- it was a case of bad timing, since the ace doubles player was in line for a Grand Slam of doubles, having already won the Australian Open with Jonas Bjorkman and the French Open and Wimbledon with Haarhuis, this year.

Another result of interest to the Indians was the ouster of Ferreira/Leach, who were slated to meet Paes and Bhupathi in the quarters. The fifth seeds lost tamely to Lobo/Sanchez, 6-2, 6-4.

Three hours after their doubles win, Mahesh was back on court to join Mirjana Lucic, the rising teen star from Croatia, and complete the postponed mixed doubles match against Anke Huber and Joshua Eagle.

When rain interrupted their match, Bhupathi and Lucic were down one set. On resumption, they changed gears and stormed off to a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win.

The Mahesh/Mirjana pair held serve with ease, and this in turn enabled them to attack their opponents on serve, getting breaks in games 4 and 8 in the second set to tie the match at a set apiece.

Things got a bit tougher in the third set, Mahesh and Mirjana going up 3-1 with a break, only to be broken right back. In the 11th game they were in the danger of being broken at 15-40, but they held on and immediately broke Anke/Joshua in game 12 to take the match

Lucic, the Croat teen who, alleging brutality at the hands of her father, has now shifted base to the US and could soon be a US citizen, appears to have struck up a rapport with Mahesh, and the two have been combining exceptionally well on court. The pairing is seeded fourth at the ongoing Open.

Leander, meanwhile, has a new doubles partner. Rika Hiraki, remember her? That's right, the Japanese star who, last year, partnered Bhupathi to a surprise win at the French Open.

Leander talks highly of Rika. Earlier, Mahesh had indicated that the difference in height -- Rika is one of the shortest players on the circuit -- made things difficult for him when he partnered her.

Earlier, Leander was teamed with Larisa Neiland, but the chemistry was missing in that combo. This time, Larissa pairs Mark Woodforde, to form the top seeded combo in the mixed doubles event, while the Leander/Hiraki pairing are unseeded -- this, mainly because Hiraki's doubles ranking is not high enough for a seeding.