NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Paes and Bhupathi make history by entering US Open final

Men's doubles top seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi created history at the 1999 US Open in New York today when they entered the final, defeating qualifiers Andrei Olhovskiy (Russia) and David Prinosil (Germany) in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

The Indian pair thus became the first men's doubles combination since the Open era began in 1968 to make all the Grand Slam finals in a calendar year.

Paes and Bhupathi, who yesterday created another record by entering their eighth semi-final in nine Grand Slam tournaments, will now attempt to become the first pair since John Fitzgerald (US) and Anders Jarryd (Sweden) in 1991 to win three Grand Slam titles in a year.

They lost the Australian Open final this year, but then went on to clinch the French Open and Wimbledon titles.

The final obstacle they now face is the eleventh-seeded combination of Sebastien Lareau (Canada) and Alex O'Brien (US), which overcame Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) and Byron Black (Zimbabwe) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Paes and Bhupathi are also now assured of the world number one ranking at the end of the year, irrespective of the outcome of the US Open final as well as the tournaments to follow in the remainder of the year.