Paes, Bhupati beaten by
Johnson-Norval pair

Seven thousand Indian fans came to witness two Indians try and win the world doubles tennis title, but Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi failed to make their day putting up a below par show while losing to Donald Johnson (USA) and Piet Norval (South Africa) 6-7(8-10), 3-6, 4-6 in 138 minutes in the finals on Sunday.

The day did not belong to the Indians, which was evident in their approach. They played only up to 60 per cent of their potential and Bhupathi was to be blamed for most of their errors.

Paes and Bhupati

He was unable to control his first serves and most often, particularly at vital times, yielded points. In fact, Bhupathi dropped serves in all the three sets while Paes was broken once.

The Indians earned $72,000 for finishing runners-up while Johnson and Norval collected $134,000 for their efforts.

It was a sort of revenge for the visitors as they went down 4-6, 4-6 to the Indian pair in the round robin match earlier.