Miami: Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek came from behind to claim the mens doubles title at the Sony Ericsson Open here on Saturday night, giving the Indian veteran his 50th doubles crown.
The seventh seeds beat second seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 in a match that lasted almost one and a half hours.
With the win, Paes became only the 24th player in ATP World Tour history to win 50 doubles titles. It was also Paes third straight crown at Crandon Park, having triumphed with Lukas Dlouhy in 2010 and Mahesh Bhupathi in 2011.
Paes and Stepanek looked out of sorts in the opening set and their opponents took full advantage of it, closing out the set 6-3 in no time. However, the Indo-Czech pair came roaring back into the match in the second set as they won it 6-1. The decider was a marathon and Paes-Stepanek trailed 1-4 before winning six straight points to surge ahead. Stepanek closed out the victory with a top-class volley....
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10:32 AM, Apr 01, 2012
