Overcoming four days of rain delays and inclement weather, top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Max Mirnyi of Belarus made their way into the quarter finals of the US Open 2003 men's doubles with a 7-6 (10-8), 6-2, straight sets win over Lucas Arnold and Mariano Paul, both of Argentina.
However, the victory was not without some jitters. When the 15th seeded Arnold and Paul broke Bhupathi in the seventh game to go 4-3 up. In the next game, with Paul serving, an enthusiastic fan in the stands screamed out in the middle of a point when it seemed Mirnyi had made an unforced error. Bhupathi-Mirnyi lost the point but Mirnyi lifted up a finger to his lips at the embarrassed fan who decided to stay silent for the rest of the match.
The top seeds, however, were quick to recoup their loss when the broke back Paul to level the scores. The next few games saw the tempo of the match pick up considerably, as both sides went into high gear with extensive net play and passing shots. While the return of serves remained consistently safe, Bhupathi excelled with his passing shots. Interestingly, after a while, both sides decided to receive serve from the baseline as the courts dried up.
The eleventh game saw another break, once again Bhupathi, giving the underdogs a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve for the first set. However, both Mirnyi and Bhupathi managed to break right back to go into the tiebreak.
While Mirnyi started off with a strong serve, Bhupathi grunted a powerful backhand pass to go up 2-0. Taking serve at 2-1, Bhupathi sent down a winning serve and followed it up for a 4-1 lead. However, Paul held his serve in the next two points to pull back to 4-3. Mirnyi then closed out a volley exchange for 5-4 but Paul executed a brilliant poach at the net to draw close. The Argentinians, who had far less crowd support, then drew level as Bhupathi sent a return behind the baseline.
And then the Indian contingent in the stands, small as it was due to the incessant rains, fell quiet as Mirnyi did the same thing to send the Argentinians one up in a tiebreak that was rapidly becoming a battle of nerves.
Serving to save the set, Bhupathi made a pass to equal the scores, and then went one up as Arnold sent one long. The see-saw continued as Bhupathi hit out a service return to Paul, and then made up next point with a beauty of a tramline pass.
Serving for the set, Mirnyi and Bhupathi guarded the net but the Argentinians wouldn't let go, sending back three Mirnyi overheads. On the fourth, Mirnyi cracked, netting an easy smash and letting the scores go to eight-all. Fortunately, though, Bhupathi intercepted a volley for a winner to clinch the set.
While the second set saw some snatches of excellent returns from the Argentinians, they couldn't keep up either their rhythm or the pressure on the top seeds, who broke them in the first game. Once that crucial psychological barrier was breached, the rest of the set went easily for Bhupathi and Mirnyi, as their opponents made increasing unforced errors, and suffered another break in the sixth game to set up Bhupathi to serve for the match.
The Indian ace was down 30-40 on his serve before Mirnyi volleyed a winner for deuce before the duo pocketed the next points with ease to prepare for their next day's match. If the rains permit, that is.
In the junior section, where rain forced all the matches to be moved today to the Shore Sound Indoor Center in Port Chester, on the border of New York and Connecticut, Sania Mirza made it to the second round of the girls singles with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Lara Giltinan of Australia. Divij Sharan and Somdev Dev Varman were knocked out in the first round of the Boys Singles.
However, Virginia-based Tara Iyer, who plays under her Indian nationality, lost 0-6, 4-6 in the first round of the girls singles to Bethanie Mattek of the USA, as did Princeton-based Neha Uberoi, who plays under the Stars Spangled Banner, who bowed out to Canadian Katarin Zoricic 3-6, 4-6. Sanaa Bhambri had earlier retired hurt at 2-6, 0-3.
