Dubai: Indian Players Update—Nathan’s Notice

Written by: Staff on 1st March 2012

Dubai: Indian Players Update—Nathan’s Notice |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna are in the semifinals! They’ve faced some hard competition at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships but have proved themselves stiff competitors. During Wednesday’s opening round Bopanna and Bhupathi defeated Lukas Dlouhy and Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 7-5. The match lasted ten minutes past an hour with the New Indian Express converting 14 of their break points. On Thursday Bopanna and Bhupathi faced the Australian-English team of Paul Hanley and Jamie Murray, in the quarterfinals. Hanley and Murray are ranked No.28 in doubles as a team. The No.15 team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna defeated Hanley and Murray with a very tidy 6-3, 6-3.

Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi are finally finding their rhythm. The teammates have made a few changes to their game and are beginning to mesh well. Rohan Bopanna now owns the deuce side of the court while Bhupathi occupies the backhand side of the court.

Bhupathi’s former teammate Leander Paes hasn’t found the same success in Dubai as he did in Melbourne. Although, Paes’s partner for 2012 is Radek Stepanek, the man he won the Australian Open with, he did not play with Stepanek in Dubai. Leander began the year with singles No.9 Janko Tipsarevic at the Aircel Chennai Open, where the teammates won. However, they were not so lucky in Dubai losing in the first round. They were ousted by the Swedish-Romanian team of Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau who currently hold the No.4 team ranking. Paes and Tipsarevic were defeated 4-6, 5-7 by the No.4 doubles team.

Paes and Tipsarevic entered the tournament as an unseeded pair. Had Paes played with his official teammate Radek Stepanek they would have been the top seeds. Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek became the No.1 doubles team after their Australian Open win, which also marked the day Leander Paes completed the Career Grand Slam in men’s doubles. As for the rest of the year Paes is dead-set on accomplishing a few more records—like the Career Grand Slam in mixed doubles, and don’t even ask him about the Olympics. Paes recently commented, “Everybody is talking about the Olympics for obvious reasons, but I refuse to get into it. There are two Grand Slams before the Olympics __ French Open and Wimbledon. I’ve had a great year so far, I am now looking to complete another career Slam, in the mixed doubles. Only the French Open title is missing.” Even after being knocked out of Dubai so early, Paes is little bothered, with his soul set on much bigger prizes.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna face the unseeded Austrian team of Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya at 2:00 PM, Friday, on center court. Knowle and Peya struggled to defeat their last opponents, Llodra and Zimonjic, who were the top seeds, 7-6³, 7-6². The Austrians are definitely fighters so Bhupathi and Bopanna better be fantastic dancers.

Topics: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna