Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi beat Mark Nielsen and Matt Prentice 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) today to give India a 2-1 lead in its Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1 first round tennis tie with New Zealand. The former World No. 1 doubles pair outclassed New Zealand’s untried combination and continued the trend of the match in which all matches have been won in straight sets.The slick, almost instinctive combination, between Paes and Bhupathi was too much for Nielsen and Prentice, who was making his Cup doubles debut. Bhupathi is ranked fourth in the world in doubles and Paes 13th.Nielsen had a chance to force the match to a fourth set when he served at 4-3 in the tiebreaker but he dropped both points to allow the Indians a 5-4 advantage.Paes decided the set with two slick points, including a crisp, unplayable volley at match point.
