Reader Namit sent us this picture from Melbourne.
The doubles specialist made the team at the expense of Prakash Amritraj, who was rendered ineligible after the new sports policy that bars foreign passport holders from representing the country. Amritraj holds a United States passport.
The Indo-Czech pair beat second seeds Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in a grueling semi-final at the Dubai Open.
The Indian Davis Cup captain is confident that the 'Indian Express' pair will dish out quality tennis in the Beijing Olympics.
The Indian challenge in Wimbledon mixed doubles event ended with crushing second-round defeats for the pairings of Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza and Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs on Saturday. Sania, however, advanced in women's doubles, entering the third round with her American partner Bethanie Mattek after a 6-3, 6-4 win over the Russian-Italian pair of Maria Kirilenko and Flavia Pennetta.
Indians had a reasonably good day in the Wimbledon doubles' competition with Leander Paes and Sania Mirza winning their respective matches but it was curtains for Mahesh Bhupathi, who was sent packing in the first round itself. Paes, partnering Czech Lukas Dlouhy, advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-3 win over the combination of American Eric Butorac and Australian Ashley Fisher last night.
Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, beating the French-Israeli pair of Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram 6-3, 6-1 in the final in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon. The ace Indian duo thus made up for the disappointment of last year when they were beaten by Tiantian Sun and Nenad Zimonjic in the final.
Mahesh Bhupathi's seven-year Grand Slam title drought in men's doubles continued after the Indian and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles squandered a one-set lead to go down to Bob and Mike Bryan in a three-set final at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Saturday. In a match which saw the third-seeded Indo-Bahamian pair's fortunes nose-dive after the opening set, the second-seeded American brothers showed remarkable resilience to come out triumphant 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.
They will take on Nathalie Dechy of France and Andy Ram of Israel, who shocked the seventh seeded Spanish combination of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tommy Robredo 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 in the other semi-final.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi made a successful return to the tour, advancing to the second round of the Ordina Open with a straight sets win over Yves Allegro and Sebastian Prieto on Tuesday. The former world No 1 pair, seeded second at Hertogenbosch, won 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza entered the second round of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open after a hard-fought 6-2, 6-4 victory over sixth seeds Kveta Pleschke and Pavel Vizner of Czech Republic in Melbourne on Friday.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna reached the men's doubles quarter-finals in the euro 713,000 Artois Championships in London without playing a single match. The eighth seeded Indian Davis Cuppers got a walkover in the second round, as their opponents, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Ecuadorean Nicolas Lapentti, opted out of the contest.
Leander Paes and his American partner Scott Lipsky advanced to the finals of ATP Heiniken Open in Auckland, New Zealand but it was curtains for Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles at the Sydney International after they lost in the doubles semi-finals on Friday.
An aggravated calf muscle injury forced Mahesh Bhupathi to withdraw from the semi-finals of the French Open mixed doubles.
India's top tennis players Mahesh Bhupathi, Saketh Myneni, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji have been granted wild card entries into the doubles draw of Chennai Open, the organisers announced on Monday.
India's feuding doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have agreed to set aside their differences and team up for the Beijing Olympics. They will play together in two events before and after Wimbledon, and then train together under the supervision of Rick Leach, Paes's coach, and Bhupathi's trainer Scott Davidoff.
The Indian challenge in the doubles event of the ATP Chennai Open ended on Friday when top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas were shocked by the unseeded Swiss duo of Jean Claude Scherrer and Stanislas Wawrinka 3-6, 6-3, 8-10 in the quarter-finals.
Mahesh Bhupathi was the lone Indian surviving in the doubles event of the US$ 450,000 ATP Chennai Open along with his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles as second seed duo of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy were shocked in the first round in Chennai on Thursday. The top seeded pair of Bhupathi and Knowles advanced to the quarter-finals after a hard fought 7-6(3), 7-6(8) win over wild card entrants Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj.
A back injury forced the Indian ace to withdraw from the doubles draw.
Tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi on Wednesday justified his decision to prefer Rohan Bopanna ahead of Leander Paes to represent India at the Beijing Olympic Games, saying the combination may not be the best but at least it has the preparation required to compete at the professional level.
India's doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi tells the AITA he prefers partnering Rohan Bopanna in the doubles event at the Beijing Olympics.
Leander Paes is setting his eyes on nothing less than the gold medal at the upcoming Beijing Games.
The Indo-Bahamian duo lost 2-6, 3-6 to the American pair of James Blake and Mardy Fish in the pre-quarter-finals. Leander Paes, the other Indian in the fray, and his new Spanish partner Tommy Robredo got a first round bye. They face the formidable third seeded Israeli duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the pre-quarter-finals.
The two Indian tennis aces won the doubles titles at the Pilot Pen tournament with Mara Santangelo and Nenad Zimonjic respectively.
The Indo-Australian pair beat Argentine duo David Nalbandian and Sebastian Prieto 6-4, 6-3 in the first round.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took India to the World Group play-offs as they won the doubles encounter against Japan and clinch the Asia Oceania round II tie 3-0 in New Delhi on Saturday. India's top singles players Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj had come through tough five-setters on Friday.
Leander Paes says playing doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi was one of the worst decisions of his career. India's Davis Cup captain said he sacrificed his singles career by opting to team with Bhupathi in the late nineties.
Bhupathi had, on Sunday, made public his WatsApp chat with Paes, to counter accusations that he used his position as Davis Cup team captain to exclude the latter from the playing squad.
'All Mahesh needed to do was send an e-mail to Leander that he was not being considered in final four and mark a copy to AITA'
Leander Paes and his Australian partner Paul Hanley warded off the challenge of Argentina's David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas to enter the doubles quarter-finals at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells. The eighth seed Indo-Australian pair beat the Argentine duo 7-5, 2-6, 10-5 in the second round.
Indian Davis Cupper Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles cruised into the finals of the euro 891,000 ATP Swiss Indoor tournament, defeating Argentine pair Jose Acasuso and Agustin Calleri in straight sets in Basel on Saturday.
India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas stormed into the final of the $1,401,000 ATP Dubai Tennis Championships with a straight set thrashing of second seeds Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle. Bhupathi and Knowles, seeded fourth, scripted a resounding 6-2, 6-0 victory over the Swedish-Austrian combination and will now face third-seeded Czech pair of Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner.
They beat David Skoch of Czech Republic and Janette Husarova of Slovakia in their first round match at Wimbledon.
Indian ace Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles's final appearance at last week's Madrid Masters has booked the duo a berth in the season-ending prestigious Tennis Masters Cup to be held in Shanghai next month. The top seven teams in the ATP doubles race apart from Roland Garros winners Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Luis Horna of Peru would compete in the event.
The Indo-Bahamas pair beat the Spanish duo of Rafael Nadal and Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships.
Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg beat fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Madrid Masters.
India's Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi refused to reveal the doubles combination for the Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan, asserting that focus should be on winning all the matches instead of obsessing over one.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles defeated Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle 6-3, 7-5 to storm into the semi-finals of the US $2,270,000 Madrid Masters. The fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair next face the fifth seeded pair of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe, who stunned top seeds Mike and Bob Byran 6-4, 6-4 in their quarter-final match.
Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles of The Bahamas moved into the quarter-finals of the euro 2,270,000 Madrid Masters after their opponents, Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya, opted out of the contest due to a lower back injury to the world No 1.
Four members of the Davis Cup team have written to the AITA saying they will not play under captain Leander Paes.
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