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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Former NCAA Doubles Champion Reaches French Open Semifinals
6/5/2001 | Men's Tennis
June 5, 2001
Mahesh Bhupathi, a former NCAA Doubles Champion at Ole Miss, reached the doubles semifinals at the French Open Championships Tuesday with his partner Leander Paes.
The pair defeated Tomas Cibulec and Leos Friedl from Czechoslovakia 7-5, 6-4. They will face Michael Hill (Australia) and Jeff Tarango (United States), who upset the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals.
Bhupathi and Paes, partnered in the French Open for the first time since 1999, were not seeded in the tournament and proceeded to knock off the No. 15 seed in the first round and then the No. 3 seed in the round of 16.
The duo are going for their third grand slam title. In 1999, they captured the French Open Championships and one month later captured the most prestigious of the grand slams, Wimbledon.
While at Ole Miss, Bhupathi led the Rebels to the NCAA team finals. He became the first Rebel tennis player to win an NCAA title when he teamed with Ali Hamadeh to capture the Doubles Championship in 1995.