Paes/Bhupathi dash Leach's hopes of a sign-off win

Faisal Shariff

It was an emotional match; emotional on either side of the net. The critics thought the Indians, after their briefly stalled relationship, would not make it to the semis. Rick Leach wished to sign off with a win in his last tournament on the Tour after 14 prolific years.

But Paes and Bhupathi tore the form books, in an amazing display of skill and determination, as Leach failed to achieve the derired result.

When the first semi-final between Piet Norval/Don Johnson and Simon Aspelin/Johan Landsberg went to the third set, the agony showed on everyone's faces. They did not want any more of that match. All they wanted was to see the Indian wonder boys in action. In fact, the loudest cheers during the first semi-final were heard when Paes and Bhupathi stepped on the side courts to warm-up.

Thus the stage was set. The political bigwigs, Karnataka CM S M Krishna and Union Minister Yashwant Sinha graced the occasion; the crowd was huge, and loud and excited.

The first set was a cakewalk. Six games to three.

"We got off to a good start. They were swinging from the hip. We started off really well," said Bhupathi, as he finished the last bite of his sandwich at the post-match conference after winning the semi-final, beating the Leach/Ferreira combine 6-3, 7-5.

At 2-0 up in the second set, after breaking Ferreira, it seemed an anti-climatic end to the much-awaited semi-final.

Bhupathi made some great returns and was pumped up right from the start of the second set. Every time the Indians seemed to be dwindling one of them would come up with a peach of a shot and the frenzy would just tear through the stadium.

At 3-1, 40-30, Bhupathi double-faulted and it seemed the Afro-American pair would spring back in the match.

Wonder how they did it, but Bhupathi held his serve and the Indians were flying.

It was a chilly evening but the stadium atmosphere was hot. There were cheerleaders, flags and banners all around. Every Indian point was cheered with deafening applause.

Then came the eighth game of the second set, with the Leach/Ferreira combine 3-4 down. Ferriera did a jig at Leach, who managed to smile, knowing what they were up against.

Leach sure has an old hat but he still managed to pull out a rabbit from it as he held on to his serve despite the Indians being all fired up by the crowd support.

The roles had reversed and the usually quite and subdued Hesh was animated and pumped up. He seemed to be a soul possessed as he smashed those green fluffs into the advertisement boards. Paes meanwhile was restoring sanity, calming Bhupathi, yet egging him on to close the game out.

Leach confessed that he doesn't hit the ball as hard as many others on the circuit. But there are fewer players who play the game as hard as he does.

With the form that Mahesh and Bhupathi were in it seemed a great effort for Leach/Ferreira to break back and even the set at five-games all. Leach played some amazing cross-court shots proving what it took to stay at the top of his game for 14 years.

He missed more than he would have, there were plenty of unforced errors by Leach and yet not for a minute did Ferreira give him the feeling that the rules of the game had changed, and that it was one against three.

Meanwhile, the Indians were back to their chest-thumping exchanges and the cheers were reverberating in the stadium.

At 5-6, 30-15, in what was to be the final game of the match, Bhupathi mishit a deep serve from Leach. The left-handed veteran double faulted at 40-30 and it was deuce. The tension built, the crowd awaited the next point. Leach's volley went long and the Indians were at match-point. Leach and Fferreira saved it but not for long, because the next two points beloned to Paes/Bhupathi and so did the match.

The match wasn’t of high quality with either pair getting just less than 40 per cent of their serves in, not to forget the unforced errors.

It was the end of a great career for Rick Leach, only to be beaten by the team which it seems, if it stays together, will lord it over the World doubles Tour for a the next decade.

At the press conference, Leach was objective enough to admit that nothing went wrong.

"We got beaten by the team that played better. If you don't play flawless tennis against Paes/Bhupathi you don't win," he added.

"I was going to stop regardless of whether I would have won or not. It's been a great year for us. We finished second behind the Woodies. My friends said that I should stay but my body stays stop. My knees refuse to co-operate anymore."

"And it's very tough when your six-year-old daughter stops you at the door saying, 'Daddy, don't go.'. That hurts," added Ellis Ferreira, who now has to look for a new partner.

Peas admitted that the second set was a true test for them and they had a knuckleball thrown at them. "It was a nice stepping stone for us," he added.

On their opponents, who they beat in the league encounter, Don Johnson and Piet Norval, Bhupathi added that the last time they played them (Piet/Don) it was tennis of a very high level.

The Indians will play for the first time in the tournament in the afternoon. Thus Paes ended the conference saying he would need his cap out in the sun.