Leander Paes celebrates after beating Mark Nielsen in Invercargill on Friday. (AP)

Invercargill: His dream run in the Australian Open mixed doubles event last week had shown that the hunger was back in Leander Paes’ tennis.

His performance in the second singles on Day I of the Asia-Oceania group I first-round tie here on Friday completed a remarkable comeback for a man who was out of the game for five months with a brain lesion.

Playing his first singles match since April, Paes shut out Mark Nielsen 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to leave the tie locked at 1-1.

Paes was under extreme pressure after Indian No. 1 Harsh Mankad went down 4-6, 1-6, 6-7 (2-7) to debutant Simon Rea.

From the start, Paes hit every shot with power. The Indian captain closed the first set 6-2, breaking Nielsen’s serve twice. The second set was also easily won.

The first seven games of the third set went with serve before Nielsen got his first break of the match. It gave him a 5-3 lead.

But Paes put pressure at this juncture and Nielsen succumbed. It was soon 5-5. In the tie-breaker, Paes went for the kill, firing a couple of aces and winners, allowing Nielsen just two points before wrapping up the match with a crosscourt volley.

Rea had earlier given New Zealand a dream start. The straight-set victory was doubly emphatic as the 21-year-old Rea is ranked nearly 500 places below the world No. 329 Indian.

In each of the first two sets Rea raced to a 3-0 lead to close them out comfortably. In the third, Mankad got some of his rhythm back to force a tie-breaker. Rea did well to win it 7-2.

“It’s a dream come true. Playing for my country is a huge deal,” Paes said.

“Under the circumstances, this win is right up there. I have played better tennis as far as striking the ball is concerned, but this is Davis Cup with a pressure atmosphere and I really felt that pressure at the start and at the end.”

“I’m not surprised with my form. I’m very pleased going into the doubles,” the captain said.

Bhupathi ‘debut’

A Staff Reporter in Calcutta adds: The day marked Mahesh Bhupathi’s ‘captaincy debut.’ He sat courtside for both singles matches as Paes decided to focus on his match while Mankad played. “It was a nice experience for me… a tough day out there for Harsh. His opponent played some really good tennis,” Bhupathi observed.