No other Indian has gone thus far in the biggest championship of them all as the top seeds eked out a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5 win over the fifth-seeded French pair of Oliver Delaitre and Fabrice Santoro in three hours and 15 minutes.

This was the second straight five-setter that the Indians played in less than 24 hours. And on a day when the quality of tennis struggled to get over the average mark, the awe-inspiring mental strength of the Indians was perhaps the only thing that pulled them past the battle-scarred Frenchmen of whom Delaitre was something like a rock on court giving just nothing away.

Then, it had to be the blond Santoro who had to show that bit of nervousness as the match went into the final set. The Indians, despitethe three hours on court, never dominated even for a brief while but the match was going towards the direction they wanted -- meandering along so that they could seize that one quarter of a chance to nose ahead.

That came in the 12th game of the fifth set with Santoro serving. The Frenchman held two game points but seemed to have cracked under the weight of trying to hold on in order to stay in the match.

Then came the third deuce. Santoro double faulted and the match point came the Indians' way. On second serve, Bhupathi's return went off the frame and went high over the Frenchman to land near the baseline to give the Indians a place in the final.

They now meet Paul Haarhuis, who won the title last time with Jacco Eltingh, and Jared Palmer, the eighth seeds, who also got past a five-setter beating Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 8-6.

Initially, Paes-Bhupathi seemed to have problems communicating even as they struggled to put together some decent tennis, Bhupathi flounderedwith his returns, the hallmark of his game yesterday, and Paes, whose returns had always been up and down, also was in a spot of bother. What was rather inexplicable was the Indians' reluctance to lob over the short and stocky Frenchmen whose strategy to outhit the Indians from the back of the court was providing handsome dividends. Delaitre, in particular, held serve throughout the entire match and he was the key in keeping the Indians under pressure.

He let rip his returns and the Indians had to hit far too many volleys to win every point. The Frenchmen excelled in pickups and what really turned the match towards Paes and Bhupathi was Santoro's seeming inability to survive the pressure. The trainer was called mid-way through the second set for Bhupathi who was administered pain-killers.

The first set came and went in a jiffy with Bhupathi being broken twice. Paes held on somehow but that was not enough to wrest the initiative In the first game of the second set, Bhupathi's serve was in total disarray.Three brilliant returns by Delaitre and the game went to three deuces. But he survived, just about. In the third, Paes faced a break point but again scraped through.

In such a scenario, Santoro's game in the the fourth came as godsend. He did not have much power even on his first serves as the Indians took the game in the first break point, Paes intercepting well at the net. In the eighth, the weak link among the four survived three set points in a game that went to eight deuces before the shorter Santoro could hold.

Bhupathi served out the set and he and Paes had to wait till the third set tie-breaker because getting hold of the Frenchmen's serves were becoming increasingly difficult. The returns were not there and if the odd one did get through, Delaitre sent it back with double the pace. Santoro's double fault made it 3-2, Paes's ace took it 3-3 after which Delaitre held easily for 5-4. Bhupathi held on for 6-5 and the bogeyman Santoro dumped an awkward double-handed return into the net to give thesecond set to Indians.

Yet, that upping of standards was surprisingly missing. It was not as if they weren't trying; there was nothing they could grab at to get their game going. When Paes dropped his serve in the fifth game of the fourth set -- muffing a regulation volley to go down a break point and then double faulting -- the advantage gained by winning the second set had disappeared.

In the decider, Paes was pushed to a real spot in the third game. He faced two break points. He held, rather grimly, and considering that the Indians did not come anywhere near a break point on the Frenchmen's serve, holding on to that game was worth its weight in gold. Thus, Paes-Bhupathi went one step ahead of Vijay and Anand, who lost in the semi-finals to John McEnroe and Peter Fleming here.

Meanwhile, Paes is faced with a tough situation in the mixed doubles because he has to play two matches today. Paes and Lisa Raymond, the top seeds, are only in the third round while others have got the semi-finals orthereabouts.

If he gets through the third-round match there is the quarter-finals waiting for him and the doubles final at 12 noon on Sunday.