Leander Paes thread...

[jayakris]

Damnit ... what a marathon that ended so sadly .. ARGH .. Oh well .. At least these two played some barnburners so closely to the top teams and proved without a doubt that they were among the top 4 r at least 5 teams this year.  Pretty impressive to see Lee keep doing it.  Another year, man ..  Now he will go over the "6 more years" that I predicted to him in 2000 (when he really laughed at me saying there was no way he would play that long!) .. On to 2007 now.

Jay

[srivaths]

Leander just seems so happy and exuberant on court. And Damm is a much better player than I thought he was. Perhaps we(I) should stop pining for the Express reunion.

[sameerph]

Oh. What a close match . It cannot get closer thn this . Unfortunate that LP -MD had to end up on losing side.

Great detailed commentry by Nata . Specially helpful for someone who did not follow the game live.

[forpar]

Great match. Incredible the way Leander raised his game in the final stages of the match. He was ripping winners one after another. Made me proud.

[PKBasu]

Sad end after a magnificent effort throughout this season-ending event. They fought tooth and nail in every single set, and really what this tells us is that there is very little to choose among the top doubles pairings: the top 5 pairs are extremely closely-matched, and luck will play a big part in deciding the outcome of any match. Just really sad that Leander's jinx in this season-ending Championship continues...

[jaydeep]

At $1M Doha Open, Qatar

[R1] (3) DAMM Martin (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) bt (WC) EL AYNAOUI Younes (MAR)/ KHALFAN Sultan (QAT) 62 61

With that Lee and Martin started year 2007 with bang ... They will play quarters against winner between ROCHUS Christophe/ VLIEGEN Kristof (BEL) and ALMAGRO Nicolas/ MARTIN Alberto (ESP) .. Top seeds Bjorkman and Mirnyi lost in the first round.

Jaydeep.

[jaydeep]

At $1M Doha Open, Qatar

[QF] (3) DAMM Martin (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) bt ROCHUS Christophe (BEL)/ VLIEGEN Kristof (BEL) 63 61

[SF] (3) DAMM Martin (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) vs (2) KNOWLES Mark (BAH)/ NESTOR Daniel (CAN)

Again easy victory for Lee and Martin, so now in semis against 2nd seeds ... Go Lee/Martin.

[jaydeep]

At $1M Doha Open, Qatar

[SF] (3) DAMM Martin (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) bt (2) KNOWLES Mark (BAH)/ NESTOR Daniel (CAN) 75 67(6) 10-2

[F] (3) DAMM Martin (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) vs YOUZHNY Mikhail (RUS)/ ZIMONJIC Nenad (SRB)

Damm & Paes Close on Doha Title

Superb win against 2nd seed seasoned pair of Knowles and Nestor in the tight match ... Now grab the title.

Jaydeep.

[PKBasu]

Terrific start to the year for Paes/Damm, especially the great win over Knowles/Nestor in the SF. The final will be tough -- against a new pairing that looks very strong on paper.

Leander is, of course, continuing the great start to the year Indian tennis has had so far in 2007, with fabulous performances in the Hopman Cup, at Chennai by Karan and now Leander's surge to the doubles final in Doha. The success at the Asian Games certainly helped get the momentum going early in the season -- and I hope our guys can sustain this in the weeks and months ahead. 

[jaydeep]

PKB predicted correctly about finalist ... Who wasn't only tough but also defeated Lee and Martin in straight sets ... So with that Lee needs to wait for his career's 37th title ... Reaching final in this tough field should consider good start for the season for Lee and Martin.

At $1M Doha Open, Qatar

[F] (3) DAMM Martin (CZE)/ PAES Leander (IND) l YOUZHNY Mikhail (RUS)/ ZIMONJIC Nenad (SRB) 16 67(3)

Jaydeep.

[PKBasu]

Here is the rediff report on the final:

http://www.rediff.com/sports/2007/jan/06paes.htm

They call this a "shock" result. The writer obviously doesn't follow doubles too closely...

[nata]

LP/MD are in the main draw at Sydney and they are seeded 4th.

Alun JONES AUS/Robert SMEETS AUS (WC)
vs
Ashley FISHER AUS/Tripp PHILLIPS USA

Lukas DLOUHY CZE/Pavel VIZNER CZE
vs
Martin DAMM CZE/Leander PAES IND (4)

Also Bhupathi is partnering Fabrice Santoro and are in the other half of the draw, which I feel is more tougher!!

[India1989]

Damn it!! Paes and Damn lost in the finals. That was sad. I think Paes should team up with Bhupati instead. IT's hard for them to lose.

[nata]

Winning start to LP/MD in Sydney..
Straight sets victory..!

(4)L Paes/M Damm d L Dlouhy/P Vizner 7-6(2), 6-2

Go LP/MD GO!!

[jaydeep]

Good start for Lee/Martin ... Now in quarters -

[QF] (4) Martin DAMM (CZE)/ Leander PAES (IND) vs FISHER Ashley (AUS)/ PHILLIPS Tripp (USA)