Leander Paes ecstatic to win his 50th doubles career title at Miami – Tennis News
Indian tennis icon and doubles specialist, Leander Paes, clinched his 50th title of the career. He teamed up with Radek Stepanek and overpowered the second seed duo of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in the final of the
Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday. They lost the first set 3-6 but fought to win the following two sets 6-1, 10-8.
It was a classic turnaround in the proceedings. The Indo-Czech team was down 1-4 in the tie-breaker before they clasped six points on the trot. On his majestic 50th title triumph at the age of 38, Paes stated, “(It`s)
really, really special; 50 tournaments takes a little doing; 600 matches takes a little bit of doing. Having done a three peat here in Miami is awesome. Next year, I hope to start another one. We (were) the more aggressive, and, I would say, creative team
in the Tie-break, as well.”
On praising his partner who smacked the final volley of the match to win the tournament, he stated, “Well actually Radek came to me and said something simple on my service return (in the second set) and that changed the whole momentum
of the match. I have got to give full credit to Daniel and Max, they started out amazingly, and they were all over us in the first set.”
It was a special occasion for the Indian tennis ace. He and Stepanek managed to hold on to the third title bidders of this season. Mirnyi and Nestor had already won title in the season opener at Brisbane and then grabbed their
second title in Memphis.
Paes and Stepanek formed their team at the start of the season after the Indo-Pak express broke up to prepare for the coming Olympics in London. Rohan Bopanna who partnered with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi decided to team up with the
former partner of Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, to have co-ordination in the game style before the start up of Olympics. The two leftover players; Paes and Qureshi found foreign partners. Paes plays with Stepanek whilst Qureshi has formed a team with Jean-Julien
Rojer of Netherlands.
The experience of Paes was clearly visible especially after making a new pair this season. He adjusted with the new partner brilliantly and they lifted their first title in just three months of their partnership. If they continue
to play like this, they will become a lethal power in the doubles category.
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