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Bhupathi/Sugiyama in mixed doubles final

Shailesh Soni

Mahesh Bhupathi and Ai Sugiyama after the semifinal win Photo Courtesy: United States Tennis Association

For a second successive Grand Slam event an Indian will figure in the men's and mixed doubles finals. At Wimbledon, a couple of months back, it was Leander Paes, who went on to win both the titles. Now, at the U.S. Open, it's Mahesh Bhupathi who will try to emulate his doubles partner's feat.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Ai Sugiyama entered the mixed doubles final last night, defeating Alexandra Stevenson and Brian MacPhie, 6-4, 7-5.

This will be Bhupathi's third Grand Slam mixed doubles final. Earlier, he had won the French Open title in '97 with Rika Hiraki, and lost in the Wimbledon '98 final, pairing with Mirjana Lucic.

Yesterday, Bhupathi and Sugiyama started the match with two break chances in the very first game, but MacPhie saved them and went on to hold the serve. Then they had three more break chances, off Alexandra's serve, and converted the first chance to go up 2-1. But, following a double fault by Sugiyama, they were down 0-40 in the very next game. However, they fought back and went to deuce before holding. Then games with serve till Bhupathi and Sugiyama took the first set at 6-4.

In the second set, Alexandra was down 0-40 and lost serve in the game 3. Again, as in the first set, Sugiyama was down 0-30, but the game went to a deuce before she managed to hold serve. Then Alexandra served game 7 at love with an ace before Sugiyama could drop serve in the next game to even the scores.

Bhupathi and Sugiyama appeared to lose their hold on the match as Bhupathi trailed 15-30 in game 10. However, they steadied themselves and suddenly came to life. They held serve and then immediately broke Alexandra again to forge ahead. Bhupathi held serve in the next game to take the set and match at 7-5.

Bhupathi and Sugiyama face the unseeded American pair of Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson in the final to be played today. Po and Johnson defeated the third seeded Australian pair of Rennae Stubbs and Todd Woodbridge, 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-finals. For both teams it will be their first Grand Slam final appearence.

One would remember Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson as the team who defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Mirjana Lucic at this year's Australian Open second round match. They also upset the top seeded pair of Leander Paes and Lisa Raymond in the second round match at this U.S. Open, after dropping the first set.

Sugiyama and Bhupathi were seeded second at this year's French Open, where they reached the semi-finals before falling to eventual champions Katarina Srebotnik and Piet Norval. Bhupathi was seeded fifth with Mirjana Lucic of Croatia at last year's U.S Open. They advanced to the quarter-finals before losing to Serena Williams and Max Mirnyi.

Po, a Californian, and Johnson, from North Carolina, played the role of giant killers throughout the tournament by disposing of three seeded teams, including No. 1 Lisa Raymond and Leander Paes. Coming back from a set down in each in their first two matches, the duo eliminated No. 7 seeds Larisa Neiland and Rick Leach in the quarter-finals 6-2, 6-4 before disposing off Stubbs and Woodbridge.

Neither has experience in a Grand Slam final, only making it to the mixed doubles quarter-finals of the Australian Open back in January. Johnson, a doubles specialist who turns 31 the day of the final, advanced to the third round in men's doubles at this year's U.S Open. Po, 28, exited this year's singles competition after a first round loss to Serana Williams and advanced to the women's doubles quarter-finals.