 The doubles team of Paes and Bhupathi grew stronger in 1998 , reaching the semifinals of three Grand Slams , the Australian Open , the French Open , and the US Open . In the same year , Paes had two of his biggest singles results in the ATP tour . The first one came by winning his only ATP singles title at Newport , and the second was beating Pete Sampras , 6 – 3 , 6 – 4 , at the New Haven ATP tournament in their only meeting throughout the career . In 1999 , the duo reached the finals of all four Grand Slams , winning Wimbledon and the French Open , thus becoming the first Indian pair to win a doubles event at a Grand Slam . Paes also teamed up with Lisa Raymond to win the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon . The year also marked his ascent to the no . 1 ranking in doubles . The following year , Paes partnered with Sébastien Lareau for the Australian Open and Jan Siemerink for the French Open , losing in the first round on both occasions . Paes teamed up again with Bhupathi for the US Open , but lost in the first round again . The duo had a disappointing second round exit to Australian duo of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde at the Sydney Olympics , despite high hopes . Paes was given the honour of carrying the Indian Flag at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics . In spite of a winning the French Open in 2001 , the team of Bhupathi and Paes had first @-@ round exits in the other three Grand Slams . Paes was awarded the <unk> by the Government of India in 2001 . The duo of Paes and Bhupathi won the gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan . In 2002 , Leander paired up with Michael Hill for a number of tournaments , with moderate success . 
