It was an excellent day for India at the tennis courts in the Asian Games in Doha on Tuesday, as Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi put the country in the running for three gold medals.
Sania set the ball rolling with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over top seed Na Li of China to enter the women's singles final before teaming up with Paes to secure a mixed doubles final berth.
Paes and Sania beat China's Yu Xinyuan and Tiantian Sun 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in the semi-finals, at the Khalifa tennis and Squash Complex.
In between, defending champions Paes and Bhupathi took a little over an hour to make the grade in the men's doubles.
The top seeded Indian pair beat Cecil Mamiit and Frederick Taino of the Philippines 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
With the Philippine pair looking overawed by their opponents, the Indians breezed through the first set with breaks in the first, fifth and seventh games. However, the former world No. 1 duo faced unexpected resistance in the second, where Bhupathi failed to serve out the match in the eighth game, leading 5-2.
But after the Filipinos held serve in the ninth game, Paes ensured there were no further hiccups by clinching the match on his serve to secure a second successive Asian Games final.
The defending champions will face second seeds Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana of Thailand, who thrashed Korea's Woong Sun Jun and Sun Young Kim 6-1, 6-3, in the other semi-final.
Paes-Sania came back strongly in the third set after surrendering the second 2-6.
India raced off to a 5-0 lead in the decider, breaking the Chinese pair in the second and fourth games, and easily served out the match 6-1 to take the match in 82 minutes.
The Indian duo, who won a bronze medal at the Busan Games, face Satoshi Iwabuchi and Akiko Morigami of Japan in the final.
