Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in action against Filipino duo Cecil Mamit and Frederick Taino in Doha on Tuesday. The Indians won 6-2, 6-4 to reach the title round. (PTI)

Doha: After the unsavoury off-court controversy that blotted the campaign in the team event, India are now looking for a triple gold haul in Asian Games tennis.

For three hours at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex on Tuesday, the Indians virtually took over the Centre Court . First, Sania Mirza went a step closer to become the first Indian to win a singles gold in the Asian Games, and then ,Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi made the doubles final for the second time in a row to the delight of the large number of Indian fans.

Once again, the Indian expatriates filled up the stands, mainly to watch Sania Mirza in action against top seed Li Na of China in the semi-finals. On Monday, Sania had warned that the higher ranked Chinese girl would be under pressure. Sania proved she was right after emerging a 6-2, 6-2 winner in 68 minutes.

In the final on Wednesday, Sania will take on another Chinese girl, second seed Jie Zheng, who beat Japan ’s Aiko Nakamura 6-3, 6-2 in the other semi-final.

In the evening, Sania paired with Paes to reach the mixed doubles final with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win over Xinyuan Yu Tiantian Sun. The fourth seeded Sania, later said it was one of her most memorable matches in life. “Reaching the final of the Asian Games in the very first attempt is always a special moment,” she said.

So vociferous were the Indian fans that even Sania said she was distracted by the noise at times. “But I was not upset. After all, they came here to back me, which they did throughout the match.”

Sania, of course, was worth the loud cheers. She was at her awesome best against a highly erratic Li Na, No. 21 in the WTA rankings. But against Sania, the Chinese girl made too many unforced errors to give away easy points.

It did help Sania, but her court craft was also good enough to carry her through. After winning the first set in just 28 minutes, she looked even better when Li Na made a desperate attempt to come back in the second set.

The third game of the second set made all the difference. Li Na, who was serving at 1-1, was broken by Sania after the game was extended to deuce nine times. Finally, Sania broke her opponent with a remarkable crosscourt forehand that had Li Na totally stranded.

Perhaps, the loss of the third game broke Li Na’s backbone. She was broken in the fifth game once again and gave away the set and the match almost on a platter. The Chinese looked tired in the end.

Pitted against Cecil Mamit and Frederick Taino of the Philippines , Paes and Bhupathi looked highly focussed from the very beginning. They broke their opponents in the very first game and never eased the pressure. The Filipino duo was much better than the Pakistani pair Paes and Bhupathi faced in the quarter finals, but were all at sea against deft placements by the Indians and lost 2-6, 4-6.

In Wednesday’s final, Paes and Bhupathi will play the twin brothers from Thailand, Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.

For the Indians present at the centre court, the most heartening thing was to find Paes and Bhupathi playing with the same vintage understanding. On at least three occasions, they fooled their opponents with some crafty touch play at the net and then smiled at each other.

It was more assuring than the result.