Paes-Bhupathi in semi-finals

Shailesh Soni

The Indian doubles duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi stormed into the semi-finals of the French Open 2001 on Tuesday. The unseeded pair, who won the title in 1999, defeated Tomas Cibulec and Leos Friedl of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.

However, the picture was not as rosy for Paes in the mixed doubles as he and Lisa Raymond of the United States went down to Paola Suarez of Argentina and Jaime Oncins of Brazil 5-7, 1-6 in the quarter-finals.

The men's doubles match started with Paes and Bhupathi quickly getting a break off Cibulec's serve in the third game. But they quickly surrendered the advantage when Paes's serve was broken in sixth game. Hereafter, games went with serve till 5-5.

In the eleventh game, the Indians had a break chance on Cibulec's serve, but the Czechs saved it. However, the Indians got another chance immediately on the second deuce to secure the vital break and take a 6-5 lead. Bhupathi then served out for the set at 7-5.

In the second set, the Indians got the vital service break in the third game on Cibulec's serve to lead 2-1. They never looked back after that though they again had a break chance in the fifth game on Friedl's serve after deuce was called thrice, which they failed to convert. Games then went with serve till the eighth game where the Indians appeared in some trouble on Bhupathi's serve. They were taken to deuce twice, but it is to their credit that they didn't lose the advantage. Leander then served and finished off the match at 6-4.

The Czech pair is currently ranked 22 on the ATP doubles team listings and caused two upsets before reaching the quarter-finals. In the first round, they upset the sixth seeded pair of Max Mirnyi/David Prinosil 6-3, 6-7(3-7), 6-4 and in the third round they defeated the 10th seed pair of David Adams/Martin Garcia 6-2, 6-2.

The Indians will meet the 11th seeds Michael Hill and Jeff Tarango, who upset the top seeds Jonas Bjorkman/Todd Woodbridge 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

In the other semi-final, the 13th seed Czech pair of Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner will face the unseeded French pair of Arnaud Clement and Nicolas Escude. Pala/Vizner defeated Nicklas Kulti/Mickael Llodra 6-3, 7-6(8-6) in the quarter-finals while Clement/Escude got better off Lucas Arnold/Cyril Suk 7-6(7-5), 6-2.