Leander Paes Sets New Davis Cup Wins Record
Tianjin: India advanced to the Davis Cup World Group Play-Offs on Saturday with a 3-2 win over China on the back of a historic doubles victory for Leander Paes. His 43rd Davis Cup win makes the 44-year-old Paes the most successful doubles player in the tournament’s history.
Paes and Rohan Bopanna beat Mao Xin Gong and Ze Zhang 5-7 7-6(5) 7-6(3) in the second round Asia/Oceania Group I tie before Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran stepped in to beat the Chinese in must-win rubbers and take India to the next stage.
Paes was 16 when he made his Davis Cup debut in 1990 alongside Zeeshan Ali, who is now the coach of the side, and grew into a legend in the company of Mahesh Bhupathi, who is now the team captain.
Paes weaved the longest unbeaten winning streak of 24 matches in Davis Cup with Bhupathi.
India will now compete in the World Group Play-offs for the fifth time in a row, having failed in four attempts in as many years. They lost to Serbia (2014), Czech Republic (2015), Spain (2016) and Canada (2017).
The last time India competed in the elite 16-nation World Group was in 2011 when it lost to Serbia in an away first round tie.
It is only for the second time in India's Davis Cup history that the team has emerged victorious in a tie after being down 0-2.
Paes was tied on 42 wins with Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli for long but finally surpassed him on Saturday.
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