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Panja-Srinath battle into final

Shailesh Soni

It looks like there always will be an Indian pair in the final of the Gold Flake Open doubles competition. Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes made the grade during the last three editions of the tournament, and came out winners each time. This year, with Bhupathi-Paes not playing, a new Indian pair in Saurav Panja and Prahlad Srinath has taken over and gone on to snatch one of the final spots much to the delight of the Madras crowds.

Half an hour into midnight, Srinath and Panja, egged on by a vociferous crowd that stayed back to enjoy some doubles play, overcame several nerve-racking moments to beat Oleg Ogorodov and Tuomas Ketola in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) to reach their first ATP doubles final.

The semi-final match was a great entertainer as Srinath played extremely well, serving several aces. There were flashes of brilliance from Panja too though he was the weak link in the Indian duo.

On Thursday, Srinath and Saurav had defeated the unseeded pair of Kyrill Ivanov-Smolenski and Orlin Stanoytche, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) in a thrilling quarter-final.

Srinath/Panja started the third set with a break in the first game and soon it was 6-3, 2-6, 4-2. However, all their joy was shortlived as Ogorodov and Ketola came back roaring to level at 4-4 after returning the break in the 8th game. At 5-5, the Indians broke again and served for the match at 6-5. However, Panja's serve was let down and the Indians were broken as the score read 6-6. In the tie-breaker it was a neck and neck battle before Srinath finished the match serving an ace.

Ketola had played a singles match before, which lasted 2 hours and 41 minutes (he lost 7/5,5/7, 2/6) and looked exhausted in the doubles. He lost his serve easily and did not play his usual game. As for the Indians, maybe, the felicitations, held earlier in the day on the center court by Tamil Nadu Tennis Association and IMG, for world doubles champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi proved the impetus and motivated them to reach the dizzy heights.

The final berth gives the Indians $17,000 and 120 points to share. It pushes Srinath straight up to the Indian number 3 or 4 spot in doubles right next to Fazaluddin while Panja jumps from 1200 to near top-350 in the ATP doubles individual rankings.

Panja has come right into contention for a spot in the Davis Cup team with his good performance at the Gold Flake Open and at the KTC invitational singles which he won last week at Madras. A good doubles team like Srinath-Panja will also prove very useful practise opponents Paes and Fazaluddin too.

As for the crowds, which has stayed on till well past one in the morning, their wait all these days has been worth the while. For they they have found new heroes in Panja and Srinath. Move over Paes and Bhupathi, here are the new kids on the block.

In the other matches of the day, Cedric Pioline overcame Davide Sanguinetti 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); Martin Damm defeated Lorenzo Manta 6-4, 6-4; Jerome Golmard defeated Jamie Delgado 6-3, 6-4; Markus Hantschk defeated Tuomas Ketola 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

In today's singles semi-finals, Damm will play Golmard while Hantschk will face Pioline.

In the other doubles semi-final Boutter/Rochus will play Golmard/Kroslak.