After three days of the ATP tour Tata Open tennis championship, the home country can still lay claim to a toehold, if nothing else, thanks to the No. 1 seeded doubles pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Todd Woodbridge coming good in their first round tie against the strong combination of Justin Gimelstob and Mark Philippoussis even after dropping the first set 4-6. The favourites came back strongly to take the next two sets 6-3, 6-2.

Australian Todd Woodbridge said after the three-setter that Mahesh and he were aware that it would be a tough match and "our fears came true when we lost the first set. But we had to hang in there and hope things would get better". "It was the first match of the season and considering that we haven't played with each other, our performance was not bad." he added.

Mahesh confirmed that it was a one-off championship for him and Todd as they had both committed to their respective partners for the rest of the season. Thailand's Paradorn Srichapan, the No. 2 seed, kept Asian hopes alive with a 6-2, 6-4 drubbing of Dutchman John van Lottum, There was never any doubt that the Thai would come through triumphant in this encounter. He next plays Sargis Sargisan of Armenia who defeated Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-3.

Hence, barring a huge upset, a semifinal berth is pretty much guaranteed for the lone Asian representative in the singles championship. 

Earlier, under the watchful eye of their parents and grandparents, the teenaged pair of Amritraj cousins, Stephen and Prakash, played their hearts out before bowing out of the ATP Tour Tata Open tennis championship against a superior and far more experienced German combination of Kirsten Braasch and Rainer Schuettler at the Nungambakkam tennis stadium on New Year's Day.

The new generation of Amritrajs were defeated 4-6, 6-7 (4) in their first round tie against the Germans. In fact, had the cousins played as well in the first set as they did in the second, they could have taken the tie to the wire. Possibly overawed by the occasion, young Stephen took some time to get into his stride. Realising early in the match that he was the weaker of the duo, the Bavarians attacked his service at the first opportunity and they were immediately rewarded with a break — that too at love, aided by a double-fault.

That single break of service was enough to see the youngsters succumb in the opening set as the more experienced Germans were obviously playing to a plan. While they refrained from going all out when Prakash was on service, they made things extremely unpleasant for Stephen. The 18-year-old was very nearly broken again in the seventh game. He however managed to hold on by the skin of his teeth at deuce. Braasch and Scheuttler made no mistakes on their respective service games and shut out the set at 6-4.

Stephen commenced the second set shakily and soon found himself facing three break points on his service. He lost that service game and things looked pretty bleak for the Indians at that point. The youngsters gave it their all from that moment onwards and it paid rich dividends. A magnificent lob by Prakash on Rainer Schuettler's service in the fourth game, with the score at 30-40, gave the Indian pair the break they needed.

That break of service must have given the Indian duo the shot in the arm they very much needed, for thereafter their confidence level soared. For the first time in the tie, they were coordinating smoothly and Stephen produced some great volleys at the net. After one hour and 15 minutes, with the scores tied at five games apiece, Prakash was on service against Schuettler, A string of unforced errors by Prakash saw three deuces before he came good. Schuettler then held his service quite easily to force the tiebreaker.

If the Germans thought the tie break was going to be a cakewalk for them, they were badly mistaken. The Amritraj cousins matched them stride for stride until the score read 4-all. However, the next three points went to the Germans who returned victorious.