Paes-Bhupathi romp through in doubles

No mercy was the theme of Team India when it took on the inexperienced Pakistan pair of Asim Shafik and Jalil Khan in the Davis Cup doubles of the Asia Oceania Group I tie at the Brabourne stadium on Saturday.

India's ace duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi crushed Khan-Shafik 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in a little less than an hour-and-a-half to give India a 2-1 lead in the tie.

The teams were locked 1-1 at the end of the first day's singles after Aisam Qureshi beat Rohan Bopanna 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4 to give Pakistan a winning start before Prakash Amritraj leveled the score with a 7-6(5), 7-6(1), 6-4 victory over Aqeel Khan.

Pakistan fielded a weaker team for the doubles rubber in order to keep their top two players fresh for the reverse singles on Sunday. Young Khan and Shafik, playing their first doubles match in the Davis cup together, were thrown into the ring against Lee-Hesh, who have 16 doubles Grand Slams between them and a 18-match unbroken winning streak in the Davis Cup.

Bhupathi and Paes exposed the inexperience of the Pakistan team early on, beating them with deft touches, brilliant passes and killer volleys. The broke Khan in the third game of the match, and his first service game, to make the first cut and take a 2-1 lead.

From thereon is was Paes and Bhupathi magic reborn, as they broke Pakistan in the fifth game as well and went on to claim the first set 6-2.

India poached Pakistan's first service game in the second set also and were quickly off to a 3-1 lead. But Shafik and Jalil put up some fight to get back their only break, on Bhupathi's serve, of the match and make it 3-3. The fight didn't last too long as India broke back in the very next game.

Shafik, the 25-year-old banker from Islamabad, was the better of the two Pakistanis as he served well and had some cracking return of serves, but Paes and Bhupathi's pace was too hot to handle.

With the result a foregone conclusion, Pakistan did not try too hard to alter things as they went down tamely in the third set.

All eyes are now on Sunday's reverse singles, especially with Paes making himself available for a singles rubber if the tie is still alive.