Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna celebrate after defeating Serbia’s Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic during their Davis Cup World Group play-off tie, on Saturday. (PTI)

Bangalore: Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna scripted a memorable come-from-behind victory in doubles, to keep Indian hopes alive in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Serbia, here on Saturday.

After having lost the first two sets in just 67 minutes, the seasoned Indian duo gave an excellent all round display to win 1-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-3, 8-6, in two hours 58 minutes, against the Serbian pair of Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac.

After drawing level at two-set all, Paes and Bopanna attacked the visibly nervous Serbian duo with vigour in the final set and won crucial points in a clinical fashion.

Finally, the victory came in the 14 th game, when Zimonjic, a former partner of Paes and ranked fourth in the world, drove a return from the veteran Indian wide over the line.

While the near capacity crowd, which included Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, turned ecstatic, non-playing captain Anand Amritraj rushed into the court to hug the two seasoned campaigners.

“It was one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of Indian Davis Cup in the last 25 years,” said Anand.

“I still can’t believe it. Tomorrow (Sunday), Somdev (Dev Varman) will have to play some of his best tennis in the first of the reverse singles to keep India in the hunt.”

Emotions apart, the classic win by Paes and Bopanna could well turn out to be a temporary reprieve. Serbia are still leading 2-1 in the tie and given the way the visitors played on Friday, it would not be easy for Somdev and Yuki Bhambri to match the performance of the Indian doubles pair.

For those who had been following the career graph of Paes over the years, his outstanding display on Saturday did not come as a surprise.

His Davis Cup exploits have already become a part of Indian tennis’ folklore and Saturday was one such day when everything went right for him, after the first two sets.

“Let me make one thing very clear,” said Paes later. “I have had some good victories in Davis Cup over the years, both in singles and doubles. But the match I won with Rohan today (Saturday) is definitely my best doubles win in Davis Cup.”

Equal credit must go to Bopanna. Only two years ago, the Bangalore player nearly held the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to ransom and stubbornly refused to pair up with Paes for the London Olympics.

On Saturday, at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association court, Bopanna looked as though he was enjoying a faultless understanding with Paes and came up with some impressive returns and net play at crucial time. Initially, he was vulnerable at the net and was having problems with his backhand.

The Serbian pair did not expect such a backlash after winning the first two sets. Nothing went right for the Indians in the first set as they lost in 18 minutes.

Paes lost his services on both occasions in the first set only to recover some composure in the second. However, the visitors looked solid in the tie-breaker and broke the Indians quickly to go 2-0 up.

Perhaps, the Serbs did not have much idea about Paes’s stupendous record in Davis Cup. Once he got going, it looked impossible to stop him. In the third set, when Bozoljac was broken in the eighth game, Paes came up with an amazing down the line shot that had the crowd on its feet.

As a highly pumped up Paes ran to the sidelines to do a high-five with teammates, the crowd, too, got excited. As the cheering grew louder in the next two sets, the Indians looked more and more confident.

The Serbian rhythm was also broken in the third set when Zimonjic appeared to suffer from a stiff neck and had to receive treatment outside the court. “It did hamper my tempo, but that’s not the reason why we lost. The Indians played great tennis,” he later said.

Paes said the three minutes break due to Zimonjic injury helped the Indians. “Those three minutes proved crucial. We could reorganise ourselves and gather our thoughts.

“That was the time when Anand asked us to slow down and it brought us results. Anand was a great doubles player of his time. He was awesome in the captain’s chair,” Paes said.