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Paes and Bhupathi make history at US Open by entering final

Shailesh Soni

Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes on their way to the finals Photo Courtesy: United States Tennis Association

The top seed Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi created history at the 1999 U.S. Open yesterday when they entered the final, defeating qualifiers Andrei Olhovskiy (Russia) and David Prinosil (Germany) in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

They face 11th seeds Sebastien Lareau and Alex O'Brien in the final to be played on Friday.

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.

The Indians started the match rather shakily. Though both Bhupathi and Paes served an ace each in their first two service games, Paes was broken in game 3 and the Indians were down 1-2. They got the break back in the next game, though only after going through four break chances. Then games went with serve and the Indians took the first set at 6-4.

The Indians kept their momentum going in the second set also and got a break rightaway in the second game. There may have been a brief lapse in concentration after this, as Bhupathi went down 0-40 in the fifth game. However, they won five points in a row to hold. That basically shut the door for Olhovskiy and Prinosil as Paes then held his serve in game 7 at love, before Bhupathi served off game nine to close the match.

Statistically, the Indians converted 3 of 8 break chances, while Olhovskiy and Prinosil did 1 of 5. The Indians won 59 points to the 52 points by the opponents. They also had four aces, three double faults and eight winners, to 3, 5 and 5 by Olhovskiy and Prinosil. It was not exactly a one-sided match as the scoreline suggests, but at the same time, the Indians seemed to be in good control throughout the match.

Interestingly, Bhupathi and Paes have dropped only one set on their way to the final.

The Indians had beaten their final opponents, Lareau and O'brien, in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon this year in a five set match. Alex O'brien had made the U.S. Open finals earlier in 1995 with Sandon Stolle. Also, Lareau and O'brien made it to the Australian Open final together in 1996 and 1997. Lareau had also reached the semi-finals of the 1993 U.S. Open with Leander Paes.

For reaching the final, the Indians share $165,000. Also, with the 644 points from the U.S. Open, they now have 3617 ATP points for the year. With a good 1500-plus points lead over all other teams, they are guaranteed of the No 1 year ranking for the first time in their career. They were No 4 in '97 and No 2 last year. That No. 1 spot comes with $100,00 in courtside bonus money from the ATP. The money will be given after the Hartford Championships.

The 644 points earned at the U.S. Open will place Paes at 5329 points, probably the highest points total for a doubles player. Interestingly, Jacco Eltingh, after his great season last year, was at 5143. Also, the Woodies were at 5100 once in their career. Mahesh is now at 4940, and can cross 5000 with a win on Friday.

The Woodies were in five finals in a row, starting with the '96 Wimbledon title They won the U.S. Open '96, Australian Open '97, lost the French Open '97 final and won Wimbledon '97. They have not won a Grand Slam title since then, though they reached two more finals (Australian '98 and Wimbledon '98). Since that epic 10-8 fifth set loss, in four hours, to Eltingh-Haarhuis at Wimbledon '98, which snapped their five-year hold on the title there, they have not reached a Grand Slam final in five attempts, though. However, the Indians still have a long way to go before they can be compared to the likes of the Woodies.