The chest bumps were back, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were at their scintillating best and most importantly India won the crucial doubles tie with a degree of comfort to trail Brazil 1-2 in their Davis Cup World Group playoff tie at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium.


India's doubles stars Leander Paes (right) and Mahesh Bhupathi celebrate
a point against Brazil's Macelo Mello and Joao Soares during Saturday's
Davis Cup World Group play-off tie in Chennai. pic/afp

The Lee-Hesh chemistry seems to neveru00a0 wear off as they beat Marcelo Mello and Joao Soares 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1. Whenever they play together you notice the bubbling enthusiasm. Leander knows exactly when to cross at the net and Bhupathi always delivers on the return.

The only time they were in trouble was at 4-5 in the second, when Leander had to fend off three set points on his serve with incisive volleys and deep serves. Once again Bhupathi was in trouble on his delivery,u00a0 but Lee came up with timely interceptions at the net to avert danger and take the set to the tie-breaker
.
In the breaker,u00a0 the duou00a0 once famously dubbed as the 'Indian Express' ran amok.u00a0 Bhupathi finding the target with his patented double-handed backhand crosscourt passes, and Paes showing super quick reflexes at the net. After Paes killed off a volley to clinch the set they did their all too famous chest bump and voila, the magic was back.

The third set was a breeze as the two hardly broke sweat to gallop to victory.


There is good news for Indian tennis fans as they will see Lee-Hesh in action gunning for gold at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi next month.

"It's really cool that Hesh is teaming up with me for the Bangkok ATP event next week. This should be ideal preparation for the Commonwealth Games,'' delighted Paes said at the post-match media conference.
Of course as journalists go, one print media reporter decided to get nostalgic. What if you guys were still together?

"We were the best at one time... the No 1 pair in the world. We have grown to respect what we have done together and also what we have done as individuals. My only regret is to miss a medal by half an inch on match point at the 2004 Athens Olympics,'' said Paes.

Hesh agreed with his partner: "We are both individuals in a happy place in our career. We have set goals like the Commonwealth Games,u00a0 where we have never won a gold medal. We create magic because we manage to stay fresh. We could have won 15 or 20 Grand Slams individually if we were still playing together,'' noted Bhupathi.

Leander emphasised the tie is still not over. "We need to win two singles. We have an advantage as Bellucci will not be fresh after playing an exhausting four-hour five setter on Friday.'

A Chennai scribe had a parting shot, "You both said your play is like magic, is there any likelihood of both of you getting back together on the Tour?" Leander laughed and said,u00a0 "Magic cannot happen every day."