Bjorkman/ Woodbridge On Top
Fiona Roberts
Tuesday, July 2, 2002

Number five seeds and last year's Australian Open Doubles Champions Todd Woodbridge and Jonas Bjorkman looked to have a tough match against the number three seeds Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Mahesh Bhupathi of India in the Gentlemen's Doubles but they found it easier than expected.
They won 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. Woodbridge of Australia, holder of 19 Grand Slam Doubles titles, and Bjorkman of Sweden, with four, began strongly, breaking Mirnyi's service game and taking a 3-0 lead.
The number five seeds held their serves and took the set 6-2. Woodbridge and Bjorkman continued to build their lead early in the second set, breaking the Mirnyi serve again.
At 4-1, Mirnyi's service game came under threat again.
But, desperate not to concede another game, Mirnyi and Bhupathi contributed to a remarkable rally of volleys.
An attempted lob from the Australian/Swedish partnership failed to clear Bhupathi and he saved the game with an explosive smash to take the score to 4-2.
Just two games later, play was suspended because of rain.
A 40-minute delay followed and when the players returned to court, their racquets were barely out of their bags before the rain came down again. Returning to court again, Woodbridge and Bjorkman served out the second set, taking it 6-3.
In the third set, Bhupathi and Mirnyi seemed to find some inspiration and the rallies became longer, with the spectators growing increasingly vocal. At 4-4, however, Bhupathi and Mirnyi were once again broken, leaving Woodbridge to hold serve for the match. This he did for a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 result.