BEIJING, Oct 5: India's Davis Cup duo, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi clinched the doubles title at the $328,000 China Open ATP tournament, defeating Jim Courier and Alex O'Brien of the United States 7-5, 7-6 (9-7) today.The top-seeded Indian pair, ranked fifth in the world, won their eighth doubles title and fifth this year.``We played well and this will certainly be a morale booster for our quest for the top ranking in doubles,'' a beaming Paes said after the match.Courier, the former world No 1, claimed the singles title earlier. The top seed overcame an early fight by fifth seed Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden and his own mid match slump to emerge victorious 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.In the first set, Courier and O'Brien matched Paes and Bhupathi till the tenth game. But the Indian pair clinched the vital break in the eleventh game before serving out for the set, which lasted 50 minutes.But the second set witnessed an even tussle forcing the tie-break, where Paes and Bhupathi kept their cool to clinch the set and match.``With our steady performance throughout this year, we have made it to the top five in doubles and our ultimate aim is to be number one as soon as we can,'' Paes told PTI here today.Claiming hard work to be their only tool in achieving the success they did in the fiercely competitive international arena, Paes said, ``What makes us tick in the international circuit is just hard work, having a lot of faith in each other and working as a team.''Paes and Bhupathi have had a splendid doubles run this season bagging four ATP titles besides featuring in the US Open semi-final. ``The more we play, the more we're going to understand each other's other's game. I think that's just the right strategy to be successful,'' Paes said.From Beijing, they will travel to Singapore for the Singapore Open starting next week, which has attracted big names like world No 2 Michael Chang.``We will play singles as well as doubles in Singapore,'' Paes said. While he and Bhupathi will have to qualify for the singles event, they got direct entry into the doubles on virtue of their high ranking.
