Paes/Bhupathi to meet Norval/Johnson in final

Faisal Shariff

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi entered the final of the World doubles tennis championship, beating the top seeded pair of Rick Leach and Ellis Ferreira 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-finals on Saturday.

In Sunday's final they meet the Afro-American duo of Piet Norval and Don Johnson, who got the better of Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Johan Landsberg 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in the earlier semi-final.

"It's been the best week of our tennis career so far," said Swede Simon Aspelin, after he and Johan Landsberg lost to Norval and Johnson in the first semi-final on Saturday.

In two hours and 45 seconds, the Afro-American pair were through to the final, winning 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Maybe, the Swedes took it a touch too easy after beating Oncins/Orsanic and finishing the league stage as the only unbeaten team.

After reaching the last four stage on Friday, Aspelin had said: "The key to our success is that we are having a good time. We are relaxed and that is what's worked for us so far."

Perhaps, that did them in when it mattered most.

The semi-final match went the distance after the Afro-American pair failed to close out the game in the second set.

Landsberg/Aspelin broke Norval, the South African 1999 mixed doubles French Open champion, early on in the third game to go 2-1 up in the first set. Games then went with serve and at 15-40 on Landsberg’s serve the Afro-American pair had a great chance to break back. The Swedes, who had a dream run so far, fought well and got to 30-40 with some magnificent volleys at the net but Norval/Don broke back and the set was even at three games apiece.

With 54 per cent first serves in, Norval/Johnson held their service games and exploited the weak service of Landsberg, breaking him twice in the first set, which they eventually took at 6-4.

Lansberg was later to admit that he failed to find his rhythm while serving. "It was tough serving into the sun. I had no rhythm in my serve," he added.

Aspelin/Landsberg attacked more in the first set and it would have been pretty close had Landsberg not missed an easy overhead smash.

Lansberg/Aspelin came back fighting in the second set, wiping out the unforced errors, which cost them the first. They broke Johnson early in the third game to go 2-1 up. In the ninth game, the inconsistent Landsberg serve was broken yet again and the Afro-American duo came back 4-4. There was a spring in their stride as they tried to close out the game and match in two sets.

The adventurous Norval, whose hobbies include parachuting and bungee jumping, just managed to find the gut for the big occasion and picked his game to come up with a 5-4 lead in the second set.

A great backhand down the line by Norval gave the Afro-American duo a sniff of victory at 0-30 in the 10th game. The Swedes fought back and held on to their service game to level the scores 5-5. And with their never-say-die attitude won four consecutive games to take the second set 7-5.

With a set a piece, the game was too close to call. Each team broke the other and the teams were even at 2-2 in the decider. The fifth game witnessed some inspiring volleying from the North Carolina-based Johnson.

At 4-2, after breaking Aspelin, the Afro-American pair seemed to have booked their berth in the final of the tournament. At 5-3, the Afro-American duo was serving for the match. Aspelin hit a return wide to give the Afro-Americans a berth in the final.

"We were pretty relaxed and were not under any pressure. There were no expectations from us and here we were in the semi-finals of the World doubles championship, " said Landsberg.

Hailing from the country that threw up players of the calibre of Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander, to name a few, Landsberg said, "We would love to play Davis Cup some day for our country but there are too many better players in Sweden. But who knows?"

The Afro-American pair of Piet Norval and Don Johnson had everything going against them.. They played till eight last night and the organizers of the tournament still scheduled their semi-final game before the Paes/Bhupathi - Leach/Ferreira game, and yet the came good.

"It’s been extremely tough for us. We played all our previous matches at night and it was terrible to play at three in the afternoon. The ball was playing faster and I was just completely stunned," said Piet Norval after the game.

Johnson echoed his views. "To play with the sun in your eyes is abysmal. You just couldn't see the ball. That is the reason I hit so many lobs."

They however felt the afternoon match came as a blessing in disguise. "We are now better prepared for the final, which is slated for three tomorrow afternoon," said Johnson.

"At one point I was playing such bad tennis, my game just hit rock bottom. The only way to go was up. And after coming so far I wanted to do it for Piet," he added.

Piet on the other hand said: "Except for the first 'screw-up in serve' I served very well and had no break-point against my serve through the match.

Piet stated that before they got here they knew they had a very good chance and that the tournament was wide open. "We were in the best of form and knew we had a chance. The draw had me nervous but the semi-final opponents were just what we wanted."

"The turning point of the match was in the third set at 3-2 when I hit two good top spin lobs. The first got me the breakpoint and the second clinched it. I have not played that shot through the entire week. Don’t ask me why I played them I just did and made it," said Norval.