The University of Mississippi Athletics
Former Men's Tennis Star Reaches U.S. Open Doubles Semifinals
9/7/1999 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 7, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. -- Former Ole Miss tennis standout Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Leander Paes of India, reached the doubles semifinals at the U.S. Open Championships Tuesday, by defeating qualifiers Ben Ellwood and Michael Tebbutt of Australia in straight sets.
Bhupathi and Paes escaped upset in Monday's third-round action, coming back to beat Justin Gimblestob and Richey Reneberg of the United States in three sets, before handing Ellwood and Tebbutt a 6-3, 6-4 loss in the quarterfinals.
The pair are bidding to win their third grand slam of the year after winning the French Open Championships and Wimbledon earlier this summer. They also reached the finals at the Australian Open.
Bhupathi and Paes will meet Andrei Olhovskiy (Russia) and David Prinosil (Germany) in the semifinals. This will be their third semifinal appearance in the U.S. Open having reached the final four the last two years.
While at Ole Miss, Bhupathi led the Rebels to the 1995 NCAA Team Championship final and became the first player in men's tennis history to win an NCAA title as he captured the 1995 Doubles Championship.
