Mahesh Bhupathi consoles Leander Paes after the Indian pair lost the bronze medal match to Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic on Friday. The Croatians won 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 16-14

Athens: So close yet so far.

The Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi Friday went down 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 14-16 in a bronze match (as reported in the Late City edition) that lasted three hours and 58 minutes to Croats Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic.

It would have been Leander’s second bronze (the first one coming from Atlanta in 1996) and the Bhupathi’s first entry into the rarefied Olympic Games honour zone. Despite playing with tremendous gusto and despite the final set itself lasting two hours and 24 minutes, it remained a dream.

It was 1.05 am locally when the match ended, and as the Croats took off their T-shirts, the Indian pair packed and, in a fine gesture, waved to the crowd that had supported them all along.

There were two late errors by Paes that let the match slip. Paes felt he was partly responsible for that, though it was a simple fact of sheer exhaustion and momentary lapse of concentration that sounded the death knell. “Such things happen,” he said, none too happy about it all.

Leander did not quite hide his disappointment. “It’s a big disappointment. From a gold aim to a medal-less return, it’s sort of hollow. But we gave it our best shot.”

Bhupathi said his disappointment stemmed from the fact that a “lot of preparation had gone into this, and then we failed to capitalise on our chances.”

Both, Paes in particular, gave due credit to the Croats for keeping their nerves.

On whether they are planning a reunion on the ATP Tour, Paes said their schedules for this year have already been drawn up and that a decision on this will be taken next year.

The Indians started in whirlwind fashion. Leander and Mahesh just blasted through the first three games, breaking the Croats (on Ancic’s serve). It was looking all too easy, and not too real. It wasn’t.

After Ljubicic held serve in the fourth game, Leander’s service game ran into trouble as he was conceding lead easily. He even had a double-fault, and it needed a great return by Leander and an Ancic ball into the net for the Indians to finally go 4-1 up.

The Croats, looking pretty docile in the early part, came back with strong serves (especially Ljubicic), and good volleying to make their presence felt. Ancic kept his serve in the fourth game and, in the fifth, the Croats broke back. There was a late fightback, but a wrong judgment in line let the game go.

The confidence Indians had shown earlier was fading somewhat. The Croats, more importantly, managed to gather themselves up and put their height to better use. They were smashing better and though net-play wasn’t as good as the Indians’, did offer power in return.

Ancic’s serves were back in action and the set was taken into the tie-breaker. The Indians were in drivers’ seat after opening up a 5-2 lead and with two serves to follow. But the Croats, cheered by loud fans, just refused to give up and reeled off five straight points to take the first set.

In the second set, games went with serves before Ancic was broken in the seventh, the game ending with a high Bhupathi return catching Ljubicic out of court. Bhupathi, serving for the set, ran into trouble with Ljubicic’s big-hitting and Ancic’s fine play, but managed to hold and it was one set-all.

The third set saw the Croat duo open the throttle and use booming serves (Ljubicic, in particular) and volleys to effect. Ancic has this ability to send excellent backhand down-the-line passes that can take the breath out of anybody. And Ljubicic’s serves, some around 230 kmph, were almost impossible to return.

The Indians’ strong point remained some excellent Bhupathi serves and Paes’ courtcraft and net-play. He has learned the art of drop-shots from the net well and uses them often. There was no let-up in serves, before the game transcended normal scoring and went into third-set extensions.

From then onwards, it was sheer determination that had the Indian duo going. Often they were hard-pressed to hold on to serves, but they came back well.

On the Croats’ part as well, they took in pressure. Credit to the Indians too, that in the 30th game of the match, Leander saved three match-points before the Croats sealed victory. The 29th game had seen a similar recovery by Ancic, down three break-points.

Honours were even Friday night. Only, the Croats take home the bronze.