Mahesh Bhupathi, who is making a comeback to competitive tennis after an injury lay-off, won his first title in three years as he combined with Yuki Bhambri to clinch the Delhi Open on Saturday.
Playing high quality tennis, Bhupathi and Bhambri won 6-3, 4-6, 10-5 against defending champions Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh in the final that was a cut above the usual Challenger level matches.
Myneni could not win the doubles title but earlier in the day he was all class, winning his singles semifinal 6-3, 6-2 against second seed Belgian Kimmer Coppejans.
He now has a chance to win his second Challenger level singles title, having won the first in October 2014 in Indore.
Bhupathi is 41 but he still has a stinging serve and his ground-strokes are getting better with each match. Sanam was exceptional of all the four players on the court when it came to returns. He hit winners from very difficult angles, often leaving Bhupathi and Bhambri just watch the ball pass them.
All four players lost serve at the start of the second set and it was 3-3 after trading breaks.
When Bhupathi came out to serve the seventh game, Yuki made two volley errors and that cost them the game and Myneni served out the set in the 10th.
The women's title wad won by Uzbekistan's Sabina Sharipova, who beat Serbia's Nina Stojanovic 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the $25,000 ITF event.
Potro, nadal in semis
Juan Martin del Potro is inching ever closer to the level of the top-five player he was three years ago.
The Argentine player reached his first ATP semifinal in more than two years, beating fifth-seeded Jeremy Chardy of France 6-2, 6-3 on Friday night in the Delray Beach Open.
Del Potro, once ranked No. 4 in the world but now No. 1,041 because of an 11-month layoff following two surgeries on his left wrist last year, will play unseeded American Sam Querrey in the semifinals.
In a sign of his growing confidence, del Potro relied more heavily on his two-handed backhand rather than the more dependable one-handed slice he used in his first two matches.
Though admittedly fatigued, the 27-year-old Argentine dominated the court, moving fluidly and setting up his hallmark forehand down-the-line winners.
Querrey squeaked past wild-card Tim Smyczek 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-4 in 2 hours, 29 minutes, denying the 28-year-old Wisconsin player his first career tour-level semifinal. Smyczek was one game away, leading 6-5 in the second set before Querrey won the tiebreaker and then broke in the final game of the match.
American Rajeev Ram saved five break points in the crucial eighth game of the second set and beat Germany's Benjamin Becker 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in windy conditions in another quarterfinal.
The 31-year-old Ram will face fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the semifinals. The 24-year-old Dimitrov beat eighth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France 6-4, 7-5.
Rafael Nadal advanced to the semifinals of the Rio Open on Friday without hitting a shot.
The top seed moved on after his quarterfinal opponent Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine withdrew before the clay-court match with a shoulder injury.