On the first, Haarhuis sends in a weak lob for Paes to send it crashing for a winner. Bhupathi drops his racquet as Paes stands still. In a while, they hug each other with Paes tapping Bhupathi on his head. ``Well done, Hesh,'' he would have said after that 6-7 (10), 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) epoch-making win in two hours and 41 minutes.Actually, they didn't exchange a word. They looked at each other and Bhupathi had tears in his eyes -- as he said later.After the trophies were presented, Paes and Bhupathi walked around the court displaying their trophies proudly which symbolises the biggest moments in their careers.

Paes was also in line for a double whammyindividually , battling it out for a mixed doubles title . Paes-Lisa Raymond won the first set 6-4 but lost the second to Jonas Bjorkman and Anna Kournikova 6-3 . In the final set, Paes and his partner were leading 3-2 till the time of going to print.Earlier, as Paes-Bhupathi won, the crowd cheered, flash bulbs went off from the stands as many recorded the moment for posterity.

There were a sizeable number of Indian supporters in the crowd and when the tricolour went up a couple of times in the front rows, the flavour seemed distinctly Indian.

``We put in a lot more work into this one,'' Bhupathi said later. ``To be honest, we never thought we would do that well here because our form had not been pretty good. The last three matches were very tough and we had to come back to the match all the time. Moreover, we were emotionally drained after winning the French and we didn't have much time to practice on grass,'' the world number two said.

On court number one -- in front of a packed stadium -- theIndians demonstrated the kind of stuff they were made of when they salvaged themselves from a disaster of a tie-breaker, which saw them leading 5-0 in one instant and then in the next losing it 10-12. As if by sheer destiny, the heavens opened and rain forced a break for 10 minutes.

When they returned they were a different pair. Both Paes and Bhupathi picked up and despite the solidity of veteran Dutchman Paul Haarhuis, who has five Grand Slam titles to his credit, it was his partner American Jared Palmer who gave it away.

The Indians were lucky to find a weak link in the opponents. If it was Fabrice Santoro in the semi-finals, it was Palmer today. The two breaks the Indians got in the third and fourth sets were both of Palmer's serve, as both Paes and Bhupathi had little luck with Haarhuis.

He was simply impregnable, as it were, giving neither free points nor much breathing space for the Indians on their serve.

Even as Palmer struggled to come up to the level Haarhuis was playing, Paes and Bhupathiquickly raised their level. By now, they were used to the come-from-behind scenario having experienced similar situations in the last couple of days.

``We took the match from them. They did not give it to us,'' Bhupathi said. He should know because he has been struggling with a lower abdomen injury throughout the tournament and has pulled out of the next couple of tournaments.

The injury could be a small price to pay for the 25-year-old and his partner who took home a cheque of œ 1,86,420 more than Rs one crore.

No Indian, not even the great Ramanathan Krishnan, has been able to win a title here and by winning the doubles here they have reinforced the theory that they are the best pair ever to have come out of India. Frictions in a doubles team are common and for the twosome, who have grown up together and achieved the pinnacle of tennis excellence, the time has come to sort out what may become rather disastrous for their future.

Two Grand Slams titles on the trot -- unheard of in Indian tennis oreven Indian sport -- may help push the irritants under the carpet for the time being. But they will crop up sooner than later.

Paes has capped an amazing run of victories in the doubles beginning with the French Open. He hasn't lost a match since May, as soon after the French Open he played the Rosemalen tournament in the Netherlands where he and Dutchman Jan Siemierink were joint winners.

The cornerstone of the Indian win was their ability to combine well in the big matches as was evident today. ``We always fight together as a team and that has been our success,'' Bhupathi said, adding, ``We always give 100 per cent to each other and that's what makes us special,'' he said.

Talking about those moments when he had to serve for the Championships, Bhupathi said, ``Honestly, my hands were shaking because we didn't want it to go to a fifth set. I put in a good first serve and Paes had a good return which helped us close out the match.''

Bhupathi had the jitters in the 10th game of the first set when hefaced two set points on his serve. They went through three deuces and finally managed to hold. Then came the bizarre tie-breaker when they went up 5-0 in a jiffy with three mini-breaks and when Paes served for the set, the troubles began.On the first point, he dumped an easy volley into the net and in the next, he sent it long. Haarhuis, not the one to give up, quickly pounced on the opportunity. Bhupathi made it 6-4 but again it was Haarhuis' return which did the Indians in.

Haarhuis-Palmer had the third set point at 7-6 but Paes had an ace on second serve to make it 7-7 and a Bhupathi volley gave them a third set point at 8-7. Indians set the point at 10-9, Palmer saved it to make it 11-10 but Haarhuis' volley winner on Paes' serve gave them the set.

``The rain did not help at all,'' Bhupathi said, ``because with the injury it was difficult to take a long break.'' After the break in the sixth game of the second set off Palmer's serve, the Indians had the game when Haarhuis netted a Bhupathi return onthe second break point. Paes comfortably served out the set. That was the beginning of a new level of tennis that Paes and Bhupathi played.

Paes had some incredible returns and was lucky to get a net chord in the fifth game of the third for the second break point. Haarhuis sent a reflex volley rather long and the Indians just rode on that break to inch closer to the title.

``Winning Wimbledon has always been a dream for us. We never really thought we could win here but this title will definitely be the best we have won,'' he said. A classic understatement.