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Bhupathi, Paes in first Grand Slam final

T R Ramakrishnan in Melbourne

Calling it historic may be overdoing it a bit. And perhaps a bit presumptuous. But Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who have notched a few admirable firsts in their tennis careers, added another one at the Australian Open today.

They became the first Indian pair to the reach the men's doubles final of a Grand Slam event.

Paes-Bhupathi, having already become the first Indians to be top seeded at a Grand Slam, defeated American Rick Leach and South African Ellis Ferreira 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in the semifinal at Melbourne Park, showing great control and composure, especially in the two tie-breakers.

They will play fifth-seeded Patrick Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman in the final on Saturday. The occasion will be truly historic if they win that match.

Paes-Bhupathi are fully aware of that. Said Mahesh: ''It hasn't sunk in yet. We are maybe three to four sets away from a Grand Slam title. We've been in 15 finals or so in our career but this is different.''

Getting to a Grand Slam final was proving to be some sort of a bogey for Paes-Bhupathi. Three times last year (Australian, French and US), and once in 1997 (US), they lost in the semi-final. Was it some sort of a stumbling block?

Said Bhupathi: ''It was beginning to play on our minds. Three consecutive Grand Slam semi-final losses. But now it's behind us.''

Their win today was not as fluent as their quarter- final victory over Jonathan Stark and Richey Reneberg but it was one which was equally professional in its execution.

The semifinal win gives them the highest single tournament points total of their career -- 643 (including 106 bonus points), and $ 150,000 to share.

The 2 hour, 14 minutes match was close. The points had to be earned the hard way against the experienced Leach-Ferrieria, ranked 15 and 10 respectively, and seeded fourth here. The two left-handers constantly kept the pressure with accurate serving and good returns. But the Indians held their own. Neither Paes nor Bhupathi dropped serve in the match, Mahesh, in fact, didn't even face breakpoint.

There was only one break of serve in the entire match, when the 28-year-old Ferreira was broken in the sixth game of the second set. That was enough to give Paes-Bhupathi that set, though Leander went through a bit of trouble closing it out, when he served in the ninth game. He faced a breakpoint, one of four he faced in the set.

Leach, who turned 34 last month and is a real tour veteran, turned on the heat, with a couple of neat volleys and returns of serve. But Paes, who later said he had problems serving because the sun was in his eyes, still managed two good serves and volleys to see it through.

In the third set, the Indians served at deuce in four different service games, but did not let go, and took the set into the tiebreaker.

Paes and Bhupathi left their best for the tie-breakers, which decided two sets. Their first-set tie-breaker performance was near perfection. They won seven straight points after losing the first. The third set tie-breaker showed their resilience after a long set, in which the heat was getting to all four players. Paes had to serve at 4-5, Leach-Ferreira were just two points away from the set. But Paes took both points and the pressure got to Ferreira. The next point, matchpoint, he completely mishit a high volley and it was all over.

The Indians were also better in serving aces. They had 12 compared to 3 by their opponents. At one point Ferreira hit a serve registered at 123 mph (197 kph); Mahesh responded with a 122 mph (195 kph) serve of his own. It is unusual for serve speeds to get up that high in doubles.

The first serve percentage for the Indians hovered around 65% throughout the match, compared to Ferreira/Leach's 63%. The Indians won points off 77% of their first serves and 65% off their second serves, which was identical for both the teams. The Indians had 13 unforced errors to the 15 committed by Ferreira/Leach and 4 double faults to 5 by the opponents.

A well-played match by both pair, it would seem, but the only difference was that the Indians had 18 winners to 8 by their opponents. The 9 extra aces from the Indians also made the difference.

In the second semi-final, Rafter-Bjorkman came from two sets down to defeat no 2 seeds Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge in a three-hour thriller. They won 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 8-6. Bjorkman won the title last year, partnering Dutchman Jacco Eltingh.

Said Leander later: ''At the start of the third set, Hash (Mahesh) came to me and said 'let's find a way to get to the final'.''

They did that. Now they have to find the winning touch one more time and make history.