Bhupathi and Paes triumph in dramatic five-setter

By Nirmal Shekar

TOKYO, APRIL 7. Lying flat on their backs on a pair of masseur's tables in the Indian team's dressing room at the Ariake Park tennis stadium here this evening, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes were joking like a pair of ageing mates who'd just completed an arduous trek that was as enjoyable as it was back breaking.

As Dr. Vece Paes and the team coach Nandan Bal gave India's top two tennis players a rub-down, Leander Paes worked up a tired smile and said: ``I am going to catch the flight to Bombay tomorrow morning. Let Fazal (Syed Fazaluddin) and Harsh (Mankad) play tomorrow.'' Bhupathi reacted with great enthusiasm. ``Okay, I will go with you too.''

As it turns out, Bhupathi and Paes, after having climbed yet another mountain on Saturday in beating Thomas Shimada and Takao Suzuki of Japan 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a dramatic match that lasted three hours and eight minutes in this Davis Cup Asia- Oceania Group I second round tie, have nowhere to go but to the court yet again on Sunday.

The day's arguments may have ceased. But the final presentations will be made on Sunday when the verdict will be handed out. Davis Cup can be cruel on a player's body and mind. But when a team functions with resources as limited as India's, then the burden it places on one or two players who have been known to perform can be enormous.

So, at the end of a wonderfully exciting evening when half the Indian population of Tokyo seemed to have found its way to the stadium suitably equipped with the tri-colour in all sizes and vocal chords ready and eager, for India, it was merely a battle won as it goes into the final day 2-1 up in the five-match tie.

``We still have another point to win. But it is nice to go into the last day 2-1 up,'' said Ramesh Krishnan, non playing captain of the Indian team who, remarkably, was as cool and composed as ever in the face of all the drama on court, even as his Japanese counterpart Jun Kamiwazumi constantly did a fair imitation of an NBA basketball coach in a Knicks-Lakers cliff- hanger.

It is just as well that this Indian team has a leader who doesn't get carried away. For, the war is yet to be won and there is still a lot of work to be done given how well Suzuki has been playing.

``I feel strong. I feel good. I am used to this situation. So, let's see what happens,'' said Paes, looking forward to his third match in 48 hours, the crucial first reverse singles on Sunday against Suzuki.

Inspired show

For a brief period on Saturday, it did appear that the inspired Japanese pair would put an end to the Indian doubles team's five- year unbeaten record in Davis Cup. The last doubles tie Bhupathi and Paes had lost was to Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti of Sweden on the South Club grass in Calcutta in April 1996.

And when Shimada and Suzuki swung away gleefully and worked up a two sets to one lead, running all over the Indian pair in the third set, the one rubber that the visiting team may have taken for granted - the doubles - appeared to be going out of their grasp.

``Down 1-2, I did think that it was slipping. The first three sets we were struggling a bit. We have not played together a lot recently and we couldn't play our style of tennis,''said Paes.

But, to their credit, Bhupathi and Paes came out firing at the very start of the fourth set and never really looked back. They changed formation on serve and the brand of tennis they played in the face of adversity, in the fourth and fifth sets, was a reminder of the the glory days in 1999 when they featured in all four Grand Slam finals and won Wimbledon and the French Open. ``We have played so much together in the last six years that we are able to come through such tight situations,'' said Paes.

The key to today's Great Escape act was Bhupathi's brilliance. After going through a shattering defeat on Friday in the singles to Suzuki, Bhupathi seemed a different player on Saturday. And for most part of the match, he did not put a foot wrong.

While Bhupathi's returns were superb, he served consistently well and won several crucial points at the net too, propping up the team when Paes himself seemed a little low on energy in the second and third sets.

Paes, of course, was the master of the big points and he did what was expected of him at the net. And the pleasing feature of this match was that the special chemistry that catapulted this team to great heights two years ago was once again in evidence. ``Yesterday was a bit of a disappointment. I had to put that behind. I am happy that I could play well today,'' said Bhupathi.

As well as Shimada and Suzuki played, the Indians seemed on course as they broke Shimada's serve in the seventh game of the first set and wrapped it up in style.

What is more, in the fifth game of the second set, Bhupathi and Paes returned serves wonderfully well to earn themselves two breakpoints on Suzuki's serve. The Japanese pair fought very well to stave off those breakpoints and then Shimada himself willed his way out of a 0-30 situation on serve in the seventh game.

Predictably, the tide turned and Paes lost serve in the eighth game. From there, the threat that the Indians would be swept away was real as the Japanese pair ran away with the third set breaking Paes twice and Bhupathi once.

Tough nut to crack

In the event, it was a tribute to the resilience and spirit of the Indian pair that they stormed back into the match with Paes himself serving much better than he did in the first three sets.

The Indians were brilliant at the net as they broke Suzuki's serve in the second game of the fourth set and they closed out the set with a break on Shimada's serve in the eighth.

In the fifth, the Indians won 13 points in a row as they broke Suzuki's serve in the second game and then had six points for a 4-0 lead. But the Japanese pair just wouldn't cave in and Shimada held to 1-3 after fighting off six breakpoints.

About this time, Bhupathi started cramping and the signs were ominous but the Indians held their own and Bhupathi himself served out the match on the pair's fourth matchpoint with the Indian fans going wild, dancing merrily in celebration.

``They were both focussed today. They had some ups and downs but they played well when they had to,'' said Ramesh Krishnan. Not only did they play well when the chips were down but the camaraderie in the dressing room after the arduous struggle seemed to suggest that this pair is ready to reclaim a bit of the magic that piloted them to great heights in 1999. And this, more than the mere fact that a rubber was won against Japan, is the good news for Indian tennis.

No, Bhupathi and Paes have not become Bhupathi and Paes again. But, yes, they are on the right road. And their focus is on the destination.

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