After winning the men's doubles final with Mahesh Bhupathi earlier in the day, Paes returned to the courts with Mirza in front of a partisan crowd and the Indian pair defeated Satoshi Iwabuchi and Akiko Morigami from Japan in a thrilling three set match 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
Paes and Mirza started nervously and hit many unforced errors early in the first set, allowing Iwabuchi and Morigami to take a 2-0 lead before the Indian pair adjusted to the court and conditions.
Having broken back on Japan's serve, Paes and Mirza levelled the score at 3-3 and, as the set progressed, both teams hit some spectacular shots including pin-point volleys and strong smashes.
With the first set level at 5-5, Paes' volleys proved crucial in breaking Morigami's serve, while Mirza struck a great lob in the following game on her own serve. Having broken down their opponent's resistance, a missed return from Iwabuchi handed the set to the Indians.
The Japanese pair cruised to an early 3-0 lead in the second set, however Paes and Mirza once again fought back to level at 3-3. The Indian duo then broke the Japanese serve shortly after to lead 5-4 and Mirza was given the opportunity to serve for the match.
But Iwabuchi and Morigami refused to give up and broke back immediately, with the help of a beautiful lob by Morigami to finish the game. They then won the next game before Mirza carelessly served a double fault to award the set to the Japanese.
Paes and Mirza came out in the deciding third set looking more focused and took control from the start. The Indians won the first four games of the set before the Japanese finally clinched a game themselves.
At 5-1, however, Paes and Mirza were not able to convert four match points, but fortunately received another opportunity in the following game and Paes made no mistake by hitting the winning smash to secure the gold medal.
"I really wanted to add another medal to the one I won in the doubles,"Â said a delighted Paes. "It was tough because we had both played a match already today - Sania in the singles and me in the doubles. They [the Indian team] have all played really well. It just shows that tennis is a strong sport in India."Â
After playing in three finals, Mirza was relieved to walk off court with a gold medal and said, "I'm excited. It's very emotional to win a gold medal for my country. I'm just relieved to win the gold, and now I'm all wired up. After the singles I was very tired, but I finally won a gold medal after three finals. I struggled with my serve, but it was a long day and a long week. But I came through and won the gold medal."Â
Meanwhile, Iwabuchi remarked, "There are so many Indian people here, and I think that helped to push the Indian team along. Leander played great, he played better than me. She [Morigami] even played better than me.
"My serve didn't work today, but I did my best. Paes has more experience and confidence than me. I thought that after he played so many matches he would be tired, but he didn't seem to be."Â
15th Asian Games, Doha 2006
Posted December 14th, 2006 by COBA
