Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi came up with another well-oiled performance against Japan to clinch the Davis Cup tie 3-0 and guide India into the World Group play-offs. Takao Suzuki, who in the company of Satoshi Iwabuchi, suffered a 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss at the hands of the ace Indian duo, said on Saturday that Paes-Bhupathi have it in them to rule the doubles scenario.
The 44-year-old veteran says he has not lost hope and by his own admission, he is still playing the game for the love of it.
Indian aces Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes breezed into the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles event with their respective partners following straight set wins over their opponents at the US Open in New York, on Saturday. Top seeds Bhupathi and his American partner Liezel Huber eased past Jill Craybas and Eric Butorac of the US 6-3, 6-3 in a 54-minute second round match.
None of India's top players want to play with him and he has been called "a backstabber" by his former friend, but on Thursday Leander Paes' only concern was whether his novice partner at the Olympics had the right shoes to compete.
The Davis Cup revolt by Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna against captain Leander Paes was a diaster waiting to happen, according to former India player Anand Amritraj.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
A year before he won his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2005, Rafa made his debut in India at the Chennai Open.
Paes and his Italian partner Daniele Bracciali were shown the exit at the Thailand Open, in Bangkok, while Somdev and his South African partner Rik De Voest went down fighting in their last four match at the Malaysian Open, in Kuala Lumpur.
Defending champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy have been seeded third for the men's doubles at the French Open. They open their campaign against Swede Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands.
India witnessed a mixed outing in the men's doubles event of the French Open as Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out in the first round even as veteran Leander Paes and his Austrian partner Jurgen Melzer eased into the next stage, in Paris.
Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden sailed into the men's doubles final at the Miami Open.
Bhupathi said on Wednesday the former world number one pair should play together to give India the best shot at a medal.
The Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi bowed out of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after losing to eighth-seeded Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski via the super tie-break in the semi-finals in London on Saturday. Fyrstenberg and Matkowski needed an hour and 39 minutes to prevail over the fourth seeds and three-time former finalists 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 and reach their 31st tour-level doubles final.
Myneni, who will lead India in the Davis Cup tie against Spain, on Friday, proposed to his girlfriend Sri Lakshmi Anumolu at the official Davis Cup dinner on Wednesday night.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy's chances of making the knockout stage of the ATP World Tour Finals' doubles event suffered a jolt after they were handed a straight-set defeat by debutants Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach in their opening Group B match in London on Monday.
Instead he is fielding youngsters Harsh Mankad and Prakash Amritraj in the Asia-Oceania group I Davis Cup tie against China.
Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles entered the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the US Open after beating Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia and Michael Llodra from France in the quarter-finals of the tournament.Earlier, Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy entered the semi-finals, beating seventh seeds Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Senior pro Leander Paes's place in the Indian Davis Cup team will be up for discussion when the AITA Selection Committee meets on Monday to pick the squad for the upcoming Asia/Oceania Zone tie against Uzbekistan.
The Indian pair was drawn in a relatively easy bottom half in the men's doubles tennis at the Athens Games.
Moments after winning the US Open men's doubles trophy, his 10th Grand Slam title, Indian ace Leander Paes said he wasn't sure if he would be able to play the final as he was carrying a sore shoulder.
Third seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek began their campaign at the season-ending World Tour Finals with a straight sets victory over seventh seeds Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Roger, in Group 'A', in London, on Wednesday. The Indo-Czech pair beat the Pakistan-Dutch combo, runners-up at the Paris Masters last week, 6-4, 7-5.
Till some singles talent is unearthed India will have to look up to captain Leander Paes to deliver the goods, says Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal.
Sania Mirza of India and Ivan Dodig of Croatia bested defending champions Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Leander Paes of India 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 in the mixed doubles quarter-finals.
Leander Paes and Horia Tecau overcame a stiff resistance from the Dutch pair of Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer to progress to the quarter-finals of theATP Thailand Open in Bangkok.
Both Balaji and Bhambri have got some decent results on clay in lead up to the Roland Garros, where the action will unfold during the Summer Olympics from July 27.
Bopanna is justified in picking a partner of his choice since rules permit him to do so, but at the same time it holds true that even if Bopanna had ended up at No. 11 in the world rankings on the cut-off date, he and Paes, with their combined ranking, would have made the draw by a margin if not comfortably.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy's bid for a second successive ATP title ended in disappointment after the top seeds were stunned by the Russian-German pair of Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev in the finals of AIG Japan Open in Tokyo on Sunday.
Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna warmed up for the next week's Australian Open in great style as they won ATP titles with their partners in Auckland and Sydney respectively.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Tejasvi Surya on Sunday, became the first public representative to complete the Ironman 70.3 Challenge in Goa, which included 2 km of swimming, 90 km of cycling, and 21 km of running, the leader's office stated in a release.
Twenty nine years after winning her first grand slam title, Martina Navratilova swept to her 57th on Sunday.
India meet Japan in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I first round tie in Delhi, from February 7 to 9.
Leander Paes's dream of winning ATP year-end finals remained unfulfilled as the veteran Indian crashed out of the prestigious event along with Czech partner Radek Stepanek after losing a must-win Group B match in London.
The pair beat Liezel Huber of USA and Jamie Murray of UK 6-7, 7-6, 10-5 in the semi-finals.
India's tryst with fourth-place Olympic heartbreaks
The all-Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna had to toil for victory, but Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek sailed into the second round of the Australian Open men's doubles in Melbourne on Wednesday.
India's tennis great Mahesh Bhupathi on Saturday said his former Grand Slam winning partner Leander Paes is still playing well and can continue for another year. Terming it as 'The Last Roar', Olympics bronze-medallist Paes is in his last year of professional tennis career.
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