TNN
Kolkata, Oct 29: The suspense is over for Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy. They have qualified for the next month’s Masters Cup Doubles meet in Shanghai, along with Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett.
It’s very creditable for Paes and Dlouhy to have sealed a berth in the season-ending eight-team competition because they started playing together only at the French Open and thus lost the first five months.
They had a disappointing tournament in Basel last week, but a tally of 443 points and sixth place in the ATP Doubles Race ensured them a Shanghai slot with one tournament to go. Bjorkman and Ullyett are in fifth place.
The top four teams in the Race, as well as French Open champions Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna (who don’t feature in the top 8) have already qualified, leaving one berth to be decided at this week’s Paris Masters. Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles made the cut last week.
Bhupathi and Paes are at No. 7 and 8, respectively, in the individual doubles list.
Rohan Bopanna, who lost the final of the St Petersburg Open with Max Mirnyi on Sunday, moved up 17 place to No. 62. In singles, Prakash Amritraj stayed put at 214, while Somdev Devvarman was up 2 slots to 240.
Sania Mirza, who has just returned to the courts after a prolonged wrist problem, moved from 98 to 97.