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Paes does it at last

Leander Paes became the first Indian to win an ATP Tour title in eight years, when he disposed of South African Neville Godwin 6-3, 6-2, to capture the $275,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island.

The 25-year-old Paes, who won $39,000 for the triumph, was appearing in his first ATP Tour final. The last time an Indian won an ATP tour title was when Ramesh Krishnan won in Schenectady, New York in 1990. Coincidentally, that was the year Paes, who was formerly a world number one junior player, first represented India in Davis Cup play.

Ranked 120th in singles before the final, Paes barely missed cracking the first 100. When the next rankings are released, Monday, the Indian ace should see himself in the number 103 slot.

The title brought with it 151 points inluding 11 bonus points, taking his tally to 489 -- a career high, above the 462 he had tallied after making the semifinal of the Chennai challenger earlier this year. Interestingly, his all time high career ranking is 98. His 103 ranking is below it, but with just 120 points to defend over the next eight months, indications are that he should go much higher, soon.

Paes' opponent in the Hall of Fame final, Godwin (23) was also making his first appearance in an ATP Tour final. The last two years, Paes made it to the semifinal here before going down to the eventual champion.

Paes in fact started badly, being broken in the third game of the first set. Fine-tuning his serve and volley game to its top pitch, he promptly broke back in the next game, then broke Godwin again in the sixth to take the first set.

Perhaps the defining moment of the game, and the one that separated the winner from the loser, was when Paes was serving to stay a break up at 3-2, and found himself 15-40 down on his own serve. At this point, the Indian raised his game several notches to stave off the threat on his serve -- and when he ran left to right to smash a forehand down the line pass from well behind the baseline, running at full clip, it seemed to take the wind out of his opponent's sails.

Godwin in fact never really recovered his composure from that point, as Leander settled into classic serve and volley, chip and charge tennis. In the second set, Godwin went a break down at the very start, but did well to break back as Paes appeared momentarily to lose concentration.

It happens that way for the Indian Davis Cupper -- at times, he is so psyched up to attack an opponent's serve, that he seems strangely flat when his own serve follows.

However, Paes promptly shook off the lapse and tightened up to break his opponent in the third, then again in the fifth, to romp home to his first title in fine style.

"I'm Indian, it comes naturally," was Leander's crisp answer, when asked how he found it easy to play on grass. Hall of Fame member Bud Collins reminded the audience, during the presentation ceremony, that Indians have always done well here, with Vijay Amritraj, perhaps the best grasscourt player the country has produced till date, having won the event thrice.

"I wouldn't mind doing what Vijay did," Paes said.

Leander's post match press conference was a bit of a revelation. Thus, while he thanked coach Carmichael, he also made a pointed reference to the enormous good his new physical trainer, Sanjay Singh, had done for him. Paes had a dodgy ankle Friday night, but Singh worked his magic on the Indian to get him fit enough to go all the way.

Paes is scheduled to return to his base in Florida, for rest and intensive training with an eye to the US Open, where he will be in the main draw. However, he is slated to play a few tuneup hardcourt tournaments before the Open.

Interestingly, the Open will also see friend and compatriot Mahesh Bhupati back in harness with Leander, the Indians -- now ranked number three in the world -- being likely to be seeded high at the Open.