There was not a single empty set in the 5000-capacity SDAT tennis stadium when Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came on to the courts to play the Chennai Open mens doubles final on Sunday evening. For the entire one hour and forty-five minutes that the duo were on court,the crowd created a cricket-match like atmosphere. The signature chest bump was on show after their fifth title win here a 6-2,6-7,10-7 verdict over doubles specialist David Martin and top singles player Robin Haase. Comeback complete Paes jumped on to Bhupathi,who lifted his partner in his arms and carried him till the net. It marked a great beginning to their Tour comeback after a nine-year long hiatus. Martin-Haase were responsible for breaking Indian hearts when they took out Somdev-Sanam and Rohan-Aisam from the doubles draw. Lee-Hesh though didnt let them win the title. I think the quality of the match was the best that the Chennai crowd has seen in a long time in a doubles match. The way they raised their game in the second set,not giving us a single break point goes to show how tough it had become, Bhupathi said. When scores were level at 6-6 and 1-1 in the tiebreaker of the second set,Bhupathi found the gap for a point-winning volley on Paess serve. Some great play from Haase he hit a lob,then a smash followed by a great serve and a forehand down the line to win the next four points put the Indians in a spot of bother. Though Bhupathi hit an ace after that,Haase closed the second set with a smash. The spectators,keen to see their heroes win,got into a frenzy with chants so much so that Martin couldnt concentrate on his serve in the superset tiebreaker. Paes waved them quiet,and the fans settled down. But Haase-Martin had not given up either. They were 4-1 up in the decider when the Indians won five consecutive points to go up. And at 7-5 in the favour of the home team,Haase couldnt reach the net to retrive a drop shot. At championship point,Bhupathi hit a forehand pass on Haases side. Though there are a lot of new doubles teams,I always say that our history of playing together and the teamwork that it brings on court is our big advantage, Paes said.
