Touch, a deft one at that, has always been Leander Paes' ally. And the veteran showed that he's still got plenty of it left in his arsenal as he partnered with Australian Matthew Ebden to clinch a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win over Blaz Rola of Slovenia and Zhizhen Zhang of China at the KSLTA courts on Wednesday.
In his final season on the Tour and possibly his last appearance in Bengaluru, the 46-year-old showed off his volleys, reflexes and mental fortitude, much to the delight of a encouraging crowd who had gathered to see the main event of the Bengaluru Open.
But it was not without challenges although when push came to shove, the Indo-Aussie pair found their stride, saving all three break points in the first set and six of the seven in the second.
At one point, down a break and 0-40 in the second set, they pulled off four straight points as Paes held his serve before Ebden, who had played two three setters this past two days during his singles run here, smashed a forehand down the line to break back and soon after, wrap up the match.
When asked about being part of Paes’ final tour, Ebden, who was two when his partner was playing his maiden Davis Cup doubles match back in 1990, said he was honoured.
“I was also looking for a bit of spark and motivation and to play for with this guy is pretty motivating for me. When I heard he is doing one last tour, I texted him. I’m honoured to be a part of it,” he said.
Paes, meanwhile, was happy with the performance, especially under pressure.
“I have a big bagful of tricks when under pressure,” he said. “For us, we are so natural as a team, we have to help each other start well and that's my responsibility to take.”
Earlier, seventh seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran made things difficult for himself before going past Sebastian Fanselow of Germany 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round.
Prajnesh broke once early and twice late in a row to take the first set. However with errors creeping into his forehands, Fanselow forced the decider before Prajnesh pulled it together to get the all important break in the seventh game and wrap up the match.
In other games, Benjamin Bonzi of France ousted 12th seed Nikola Milohevic of Serbia 6-4, 6-1 while Julian Ocleppo of Italy ended 10th seed Chinese Zhizhen Zhang's run with a 6-1, 6-3 win.
Results: Singles (Round 2): 7-Prajnesh Gunneswaran (Ind) bt Sebastian Fanselow (Ger) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; 4-James Duckworth (Aus) bt Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) 6-4, 7-6(5); 17-Ramanathan, Ramkumar (Ind) bt Q-Abhinav Shanmugam 6-1, 6-3; Julian Ocleppo (Ita) bt 10-Zhizhen Zhang (Chn) 6-1, 6-3; 14-Mohamed Safwat (Egy) bt Matthew Ebden (Aus) 7-6(5), 6-7(1), 7-5; Sidharth Rawat (Ind) bt Rishi Reddy (Ind) 6-2, 6-2; Benjamin Bonzi (Fra) bt 12-Nikola Milojevic (Srb) 6-4, 6-1; Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) bt 15-Kimmer Coppejans (Bel) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
Doubles (Round-1): Saketh Myneni (Ind)/Matt Reid (Aus) bt WC-Nikshep Ballekere/Vasisht Cheruku (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; 3-Andre Goransson (Swe)/Christopher Rungkat (Ind) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran/Sumit Nagal (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Lukas Rosol (Cze)/Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) bt Andre Begemann/Daniel Masur (Ger) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Jonathan Erlich (Isr)/Andrei Vasilevski (Blr) bt Romain Arneodo (Mon)/Benjamin Bonzi (Fra) 4-6, 6-0, 10-7; Matthew Abden (Aus)/Leander Paes (Ind) bt Blaz Rola (Slo)/Zhizhen Zhang (Chn) 7-6(2), 6-4.