Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi gave India a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group I second round match against Japan after beating Thomas Shimada and Takahiro Terachi in the doubles rubber in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday.

The former world No.1 doubles pair proved too good for the Japanese duo, winning 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 at Utsubo Tennis Center.

On Friday, India and Japan had split the opening singles, with Paes beating Takao Suzuki 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 after Prakash Amritraj went down to Gouichi Motomura 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, 4-6.

The reverse singles will be played on Sunday.

The winner of the tie will advance to September's World Group play-off.

Paes and Bhupathi took control early, breaking in the fourth game to go up 3-1. They then won the next three games to take the set in quick time.

In the second set, the Indians met with stiff opposition after taking a 4-1 lead as the Japanese won two games. However, they served out their games to make the score line 2-0.

Shimada and Terachi capitalized on some complacent play by the Indians to take the third set and stretched the Indians in the fourth, in which scores ran neck and neck till 5-all. But Paes and Bhupathi drew on their experience to hold serve at 5-5 before breaking to win the set and match in two hours and ten minutes.