By IANS
Memphis (US) : India’s ace doubles player Mahesh Bhupathi at last lifted an ATP doubles trophy, ending one and-a-half-year’s drought as he and Mark Knowles of Bahamas won the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships here.
Bhupathi-Knowles duo, who were top seeds here, took one hour 16 minutes to outsmart Thai brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana 7-6(7-5), 6-2 at the $769,000 hard court event Sunday night.
To their credit, the Indo-Bahamas pair, who reached the semi-finals of the season’s first Grand Slam – the Australian Open in January – did not drop a single set in the tournament en route to their first title together.
With this win, Bhupathi increased his career titles tally to 42 and Knowles bagged his 48th.
“It’s good to win the first title of the year. We started off really well at Australian Open,” Bhupathi said after the win.
“Both of us served well, focused hard as we were confident that if we play well, we could win the title,” he added.
The duo will now go straight to Dubai from here where they are seeded fourth.