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The third seeded Indo-Serbian pair of Leander Paes and Janko Tipsarevic, coming together for the first time, captured the Chennai Open title by defeating the No.4 seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in front of a good turnout at the SDAT stadium in Chennai.

It was a fairy tale ending for the Indo-Serb duo as they started off the tournament on a tentative note, worked well as a team over the last three matches and went on to win the title with a comprehensive victory over the solid Israeli duo. Leander Paes, the more experienced of the two, led from the front, mixing it up well and producing some magnificent winners at the net. Tipsarevic complemented him with strong serves and some very effective ground strokes.

Paes and Tiparevic got off to a good start by winning the first three games of the opening set with a double break of serve. Their domination though didn’t last long as Paes lost serve in the very next game. But Tipsarevic trashed the Israeli’s chances of getting back into the set with a strong service game to take the first set 6-4. In a similar fashion, the Indo-Serb took an early lead by breaking serve in the opening game of the second set, only to lose the next game to level score at 1-1. However, Paes and Tipsarevic won a decisive break in the ninth game of the second set to lead 5-4 and this time, they closed out the match holding serve to love.

This is Paes’ sixth title at the Chennai Open. He was the defending champion at the event, having won it last year alongside compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi. This is Tipsarevic’s first ever ATP doubles title, and makes up somewhat for losing a rather close Singles final. The pair also said they will evaluate options of playing together again in 2012.

RESULTS

Men's Doubles Finals

[3] L Paes (IND) / J Tipsarevic (SRB) d [4] J Erlich (ISR) / A Ram (ISR) 64 64