Doubles stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi put India within one match of a play-off for a place in the Davis Cup World Group with a hard fought victory here on Saturday.

Their win put India 2-1 ahead against Japan, but they were forced to come back from two sets to one down to secure the crucial edge.

The former world No.1 doubles team came up against spirited resistance from Japan's Takao Suzuki and Thomas Shimada.
But they prevailed in the last two sets for a 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory at the Ariake Coliseum centre court, where the pair won the Japan Open in Oct.

Paes had dominated at the net to put India ahead with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over Yaoki Ishii on Friday. But Suziki leveled the tie with a 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Bhupathi in the second singles match.

Japan are counting on their ace Suzuki to win both of his two singles if the home side is to have any chance of beating India for the first time since 1930.
The winners of the best-of-five tie on the Ariake Coliseum hard court will qualify for a play-off in Sept against one of the eight first round losers from this year's World Group.

The World Group includes the United States and last year's winners Spain. The play-off winners go into the 2002 World Group.
Japan, seeking a place in the World Group for the first time since 1985, have lost 15 times in a row to India. Japan's only victories came in 1921 and 1930.

When the two countries last met, in 1990, India won 4-1. Bureau Report