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Paes, Bhupati on the home stretch

For Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati, this has been a year to dream of. 41 wins in 46 tour matches played this year. A season record with six ATP titles (plus three more in the Challengers) won out of as many appearances in the finals -- a better record than any of the three pairings ranked above them in the world. An unprecedented world ranking of number 4 in the doubles -- better than anything achieved by any Indian pair before them, including Anand and Vijay Amritraj. Individual rankings of number 9 for Bhupati, number 10 for Paes in world doubles play. Cumulative prize money earnings of $700,000.

And after all this, they are just entering the home stretch. Ahead of them are Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, the world number one pair. With Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis on their heels, followed by Daniel Vacek and Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

And the final battleground for the year is the Phoenix-ATP World Doubles Championships, slated for the third week of November.

Bhupati and Paes had planned on playing catch up by participating in the upcoming Czech Indoor at Ostrava. Following the win in the final of the Singapore Open, however, the Indian ace pair have decided to take a break, conserve energy for the big one.

Meanwhile, their recent opponents are in a state of awe. Jonathan Stark, who with Rick Leach was the losing pair in the recent Singapore Open, told the media, "They are on a hot streak, and there is nothing much you can do against them just now."

:"We have one goal," said Paes, in Singapore. "We want to beat the Woodies... and to become the world's best doubles pair. With a little bit more of hard work, we should be able to pull it off."

Obviously, neither he nor his partner, Bhupati, is lacking in confidence. But then, when you are on a roll like this, why would you be, right?