#6 Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi, Athens, Greece, 2004
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‘Lee and Hesh’ as they are fondly known, were seeded fifth at the start of the ‘Men’s Tennis Doubles’ tournament. They had a good start by defeating big names like Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick (USA) 7-6, 6-3 in the first round, Yves Allegro and Roger Federer (SUI) 6-2, 7-6 in the second round and then the fourth-seeded Zimbabwean pair of Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
The Indian pair went into semis as favorites but lost to the German pair of Nicholas Kiefer and Rainer Schuttler in straight sets 2-6, 3-6. Later on, they also lost the bronze medal match to the Croatian pair of Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic 6-7, 6-4, 14-16. This was a great disappointment because they were the highest ranked team in the semifinals and did not drop a set till the semis.
