Zeenews Bureau
Melbourne: Top seed American twins and defending champions Mike and Bob Bryan won the Australian Open’s men`s doubles title on Saturday defeating Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi 6-3, 6-4 in an one-sided final.
The third seeded Indian pair, which united after nine
years with an aim to complete their career Slam, lost 3-6 4-6
to the top seeded American twins in the summit clash of the
men`s doubles event which lasted a little over one hour.
The Bryan brothers won their fifth Australian Open trophy
but it slipped out of the hands of Paes and Bhupathi for the
second time, having lost the title clash back in 1999.
They reached the final here with different partners after
separating but neither of the two players could complete the
career Slam.
Paes made the final with Czech Republic`s Martin Damm in
2006 while Bhupathi ended runners-up with Bahamas` Mark
Knowles in 2009.
However, it is a fabulous start for the Indian pair in
the 2011 season as they had won the Chennai Open early this
month.
Paes and Bhupathi last played at a Grand Slam together in
2002 when they lost in the second round.
Bhupathi said he would continue playing with Paes in the
remaining season. "There is a reason why Mike and Bob are number one team.
When they have a first serve percentage of 83, it is
impossible to beat them. I thank my partner (Paes), it took
the best team in the planet to stop this train. Looking
forward to playing with you a lot more this year," Bhupathi
said.
In today`s final, the Bryan brothers dominated as they
served well and were miser on the unforced errors` count but
had the Indians converted the break chances in the very first
game of the match, it might have been different.
Left-handed Bob served extremely well after being down
0-40 to lead 3-2 on serve.
The sixth game, in which the two pairs played a stunning
20-shot rally, turned the tide in favour of the defending
champions as the Americans converted their first of the two
break chances off Paes` serve.
It was easy for the Americans from there on as Bob served
out the set after just 29 minutes of play.
The Indian duo did well to save a breakpoint in the fifth
game of the second set but Bhupathi dropped his serve in the
ninth game to hand the Americans the advantage.
Bob served out the set, match and the championshiop in
the next game after saving another breakpoint.
PTI
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