By IANS,
Bangkok : India’s Leander Paes and Czech Lukas Dlouhy clinched their first ATP title together with a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over Americans Scott Lipsky and David Martin at the Thailand Open here Sunday.
The Czech-Indian duo fired five aces, won 74 per cent of points on serve and converted two of four break points to secure the victory in an hour and 16 minutes.
The 35-year-old Paes has now won 40 ATP doubles titles, while Dlouhy, 10 years his junior, has compiled five. It is the second title in Bangkok for Paes, who also triumphed in 2005 with Paul Hanley.
“It is special and I think that one of the things I like to do is see my partner win a lot more. This is the challenge for me because I know if he’s winning I’m winning too. I’m trying to step up Lukas, this is the fifth one that he’s won, so now I’m trying to step up his wins because then mine will go up automatically,” Paes said.
“It’s always special stepping on the court with Lukas because not only does he complement my style of playing but he is also teaching me things,” he added.
Currently No. 6 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race, Dlouhy and Paes joined forces for the first time at Roland Garros in May and have since reached the finals at Halle and the US Open but made a semifinal exit at Wimbledon.
“It’s a great feeling to win the whole thing and I think if we keep working like this we can win more tournaments,” said Dlouhy.
“I think we played high-level tennis and when they came back in the second set we just stepped it up and focused on the basics. I hope that we can keep it like this and enjoy the rest of the year. We are looking forward to playing the Masters Series events.”