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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Former NCAA Doubles Champion Reaches French Open Final
6/7/2001 | Men's Tennis
June 7, 2001
PARIS - Former Ole Miss NCAA Doubles Champion Mahesh Bhupathi reached the doubles final at the French Open Championships Thursday with his partner Leander Paes. Bhupathi and Paes will be going for their second French Open doubles title in three years.
The pair, who won the 1999 title, will face the winner of the match between the Czechoslovakians Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner and the Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Nicolas Escude. The other semifinal match will be played Friday, because Thursday's play was suspended due to rain.
Bhupathi and Paes defeated the 11th-seeded team of Australian Michael Hill and American Jeff Tarango 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the final. This marks the third seeded team that they have defeated in this year's tournament.
Bhupathi is also competing in the Mixed Doubles Championship with Elena Likhovtseva of Russia. The two made the semifinals and were scheduled to face Paola Suarez (Argentina) and Jaime Oncins (Brazil) when play was suspended. They will play Friday. Bhupathi won his first ever grand slam title at the French Open, when he captured the 1997 Mixed Doubles title.
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.