The Indian Express is No. 1

Photo: AFP

India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi rose to No. 1 in the ATP World Tour mens doubles team rankings this week.

Often called The Indian Express, Paes and Bhupathi won the Sony Ericsson Mens Doubles Championship in Miami-Key Biscayne, FL this weekend. In a captivating finals match, they defeated Max Mirnyi (Belarus) and Daniel Nestor (Canada): 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-5.

It was the Indian Express' second title of the year after the Chennai Open in January. And it came on the heels of India's historic cricket World Cup victory, the first in 28 years.

“The key (to us winning) was just fighting as a team. Like Leander said, we didn't play our best match of the week. All four of us were tentative in the beginning,” Bhupathi said.

Bhupathi and Paes found their rhythm in the second set and took the lead 3-1. And they pulled away after that.

“It's still early for us. The season is broken down into four segments — this is just the first of them. If we're still No. 1 after the U.S. Open, then we'll start getting excited,” said Bhupathi.

For now, well done!
Gary