Paes-Vardhan fight hard, but come up inches short against strong opponents

It wasn’t quite David vs Goliath, but it came close. Going into their second round doubles match, Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan knew they had their work cut out, pitted as they were against second-seeded French pair of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra. Paes-Vardhan were the underdogs whichever way you looked at it, which is why it was so surprising to see them fight their opponents neck and neck till the very end. Ultimately though, there was to be no fairytale ending; the Indians went down fighting, losing 6-7, 6-4, 3-6, but they can still hold their heads high for producing a performance that belied their lowly ranking.

The first set went according to the norm, with the Frenchmen proving almost unshakeable on their serve, and doing just about everything a little better than the Indians. Tsonga’s athleticism and power were on full display, as were Llodra’s finesse and court smarts, and it took all of Paes’s own brand of doubles magic to keep the set close. The closely-contested set went to a tiebreaker, where Tsonga and Llodra proved their superiority, running away with it 7-2.

The second set saw a spike in the energy levels of the Indians, with Vardhan, in particular, coming up with several patches of inspired play. The Indians’ surge coincided with a dip in the form of their opponents, with Tsonga looking increasingly disinterested in the proceedings. The Indians were the ones fist-pumping and beating their chests, as they took an early break lead and rode it all the way to a comprehensive 6-4 victory. The Paes magic seemed to be rubbing off on his Vishnu, as both the Indians conjured several astonishing volleys to keep their opponents off-balance. In fact, as Paes tightened up quite a bit while serving for the set, it was Vishnu who stayed calm, helping his experienced partner overcome his nerves and take the match to a decider.

The momentum seemed to be with the Indians as the players headed to the third set, and at several points Tsonga looked ready to throw in the towel. But the highest-ranked player on the court dug deep into his champion’s mindset to come up with big serves and shots whenever his team seemed to be in trouble, and the Frenchmen managed to hold off the hard-charging Indian duo deep into the set. Deep enough, in fact, to elicit a bout of nervousness from the Indians, who lost their serve while serving at 3-4. The bout of nervousness was about to be transferred to the other side of the court, though, as Llodra suffered several tense moments as he attempted to serve for the match. The Frenchmen watched 2 match points come and go, and even went down a break point, but they did just enough to finally hold serve and come through.

The loss comes as a big blow to the hopes of Indian supporters, who were already given a rude jolt with the departure of Bhupathi-Bopanna yesterday. But it would be pertinent to remember that Paes and Vardhan were rank outsiders in the tournament, and were severely disadvantaged in terms of both skill and experience compared to their opponents today. That they managed to make the encounter such a thrilling affair deserves to be applauded, and maybe it can even act as a source of inspiration for the last remaining Indian team in tennis, the Paes-Sania mixed doubles pair.