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A bridge too far

1999 US Open Men's Doubles runners-up Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. Photo Courtesy: United States Tennis Association

The top-ranked Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi had their hopes of a third successive Grand Slam triumph shattered at the US Open when they lost to the 11th seeded pair of American Alex O'Brien and his Canadian partner Sebastien Lareau in straight sets 7-6 (9-7), 6-4.

The match, originally scheduled for the Arthur Ashe Stadium, was moved to the Louis Armstrong Stadium following a lengthy rain delay.

1999 US Open Men's Doubles Champions Alex O'Brien and Sebastien Lareau Photo Courtesy: United States Tennis Association

The O'Brien-Lareau combination used solid service returns as their main weapon against an Indian pair backed by overwhelming crowd support. The right mix of passing shots and net play by the 11th seeds had the Indian duo floundering.

This is the first Grand Slam title for the O'Brien-Lareau combination. The Indian pair had already annexed the French Open and Wimbledon this year, and were looking for their third Slam title on the run.

Lareau, from Montreal, Canada, and O'Brien from Amarillo, Texas, halted the Indian march to history. Paes and Bhupathi were on course to become only the second team to win the French, Wimbledon and US Open men's doubles titles in one calendar year since the beginning of the Open era in 1968.

The games were closely fought, O'Brien holding his serve to start the match and Mahesh being the first to be broken, in the 6th game, to give the opposition a 4-2 lead.

O'Brien then held serve again to make it 5-2, and Leander pulled it back to 3-5 by holding serve after facing a break point. The Indians then went 40-0 up on Lareau's serve, and broke through after 9 break points. Mahesh then held serve to level at 5-5, O'Brien held to take the score to 6-5, Leander held in his turn to set up the tie breaker at 6-6.

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in action during the men's doubles final Photo Courtesy: United States Tennis Association

The tie-breaker went to 16 points and the Indians had set point on two occasions. at 6-4 and 6-5, but failed to convert and eventually lost the set at 7-9.

The second set began with Leander being broken in the third game, before the Indians fought back to break Lareau in game four. The games then went with serve till game 9, when Mahesh went down two break points and was broken. O'Brien then held serve for set, match and title.

Lareau became the first Canadian to win a US Open title in the Open Era. He partnered O'Brien in one tournament in 1993, but the two did not play together again until 1995. In January of 1996, they reached the finals of the Australian Open and repeated in `997. Earlier, in 1995, O'Brien reached the finals at the US Open in company of Sandon Stolle, but lost to the then top-ranked pair of Woodbridge and Woodforde.

This year, at the US Open, O'Brien and Lareau defeated three higher seeded pairs to take the title. In the final, they broke the Indians thrice and scored on 71 percent of first serves. This came as revenge for the 11th seeded pair. Earlier, at Wimbledon, the two pairs had played out an epic match which the Indians won 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4, fighting back from a two-set deficit.

Lareau and O'Brien are now 3-5 in head-to-head meetings with the Indians, whose 17 Grand Slam-match winning streak ended here. The Indians now have a 22-2 match record in Slams for the year, their defeats coming at the Australian Open and the US Open -- in other words, at the start and end of the Grand Slam calendar.

The Indians have won 15 doubles titles together, including three in 1999.

"It was good to be out there with the Indians," said O'Brien, a four-time All-American at Stanford in the early 1990s.

Fans at Louis Armstrong Stadium showed their support for Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the men's doubles final. Photo Courtesy: United States Tennis Association

"They were too good for us today," said Paes. "I want to thank the Indian crowd for rooting for us."

The Indian pair, which consolidated its position as the best doubles combination in the world by appearing in all four Slam finals this year and winning two of them, now find huge crowds of Indians cheering for them at all venues they appear in. American newspapers in recent years have in fact applauded the Indian duo for managing to bring a new kind of audience to the tennis courts.