Leander Peas trounces Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Shanghai Masters title
Leander Paes extracted a sweet triumph – both personal and professional – when he combined with his partner Radek Stepanek to record a memorable come from behind victory over his bitter rivals Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna in a hard fought men’s doubles finals at the Shanghai Rolex Masters today. Paes-Stepanek, the fourth seeds, took home 1000 ranking points and $207,320 in prize money for their 6-7(7), 6-3, 10-5 victory over the seventh seeded pair.
If it was any consolation, Bhupathi and Bopanna can take heart from garnering a valuable 600 points that will help them significantly in their quest to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London, later this November.
The match seemed done and dusted when the seventh seeds broke Leander and Stepanek early in the second set after edging through narrowly in a tightly contested first set tie-breaker. But the Australian Open winners and US Open runners-up turned on the heat by breaking back to level the second set and raising their game, just in the nick of time to reverse the momentum.
Paes-Stepanek broke a second time to nail the second set before romping home comfortably in the match tie-break to win their third tournament of the season. The duo had won earlier in the Australian Open and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. It was a bitter loss for Bhupathi, who has now lost all three career finals against his one-time partner.
“We had a great year; it started off with a big bang. To do well early in a partnership is something that can happen. But to continue playing well right through the year shows the quality of (our) tennis,” said the 39-year-old Leander, who joined forces with Stepanek at the beginning of the year. The duo immediately clinched the Aussie Open with a victory over the Bryan brothers which enabled Paes to complete his full set of Grand Slam doubles trophies.
The Indian veteran was visibly delighted and clearly aware of the personal undertones of his victory – a fact he acknowledged in the post victory comments. The victory gave Paes his 51st career title and a second Shanghai Masters trophy – having earlier won one with Jurgen Melzer in 2010. Paes and Stepanek are among four teams that have already qualified for the tour finals in London, while Bhupathi and Bopanna are still looking to seal one of the four remaining spots.