New York, Sep 10 (IANS) Shrugging off a first set loss, India's Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm stormed back to beat second seeded Max Mirnyi of Sweden and Jonas Bjorkman of Belarus 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3 and lift the men's doubles title at the US Open.

It was a moment of joy not only for Paes and his millions of fans but also for his parents, who were overwhelmed at the victory.

"I am overwhelmed. I am very proud. I think the birth of his daughter has brought the focus back on tennis for Leander," mother Jennifer Paes told IANS in Kolkata.

Father Vece Paes, who is in Kuala Lumpur with the Indian hockey squad as its doctor and physio, told IANS over telephone: "I am very, very happy. If he and Martin can keep their fitness they will win more matches."

With Saturday's win, Paes, a bronze medal winner at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, ended a three-year drought of Grand Slam titles and took his tally to seven.

The last win was at Wimbledon in 2003 when he partnered Martina Navratilova the mixed doubles.

It was also Paes' first men's doubles title in five years. In 2001, he and compatriot Mahesh Bhupati won the doubles title at the French Open. Paes also partnered Bhupati for his first doubles title in 1999.

The sixth seeded Indo-Czech pair came back strongly after losing the first set in a tiebreaker.

The 6'5" Mirnyi, nicknamed "the beast", used his enormous reach to take care of some high overhead shots. Paes clinched numerous points by poaching - sneaking in the ball just across the net.

Both teams were equally fierce on their serves, but the 15 unforced errors and nine double faults by Bjorkman and Mirnyi cost them the title. In the second set, the gap started to widen.

The expressive Paes, who was slamming down his racket in frustration in the first set, began pumping his fist, and along with Damm performed a dance on the court as the two nudged their way ahead in the second set.

Both teams fought it out until Paes and Damm, up 4-3, managed to snatch a break to serve for the match. When Damm pounded back an overhead for a sideline winner to secure the title, a jubilant Paes bounded into his arms.

However, Damm failed to keep on the momentum and failed to clinch a title in the mixed doubles.

Damm, teaming with compatriot Kveta Peschke, lost to fifth seeded American pair of Martina Navratilova and Bob Bryan 6-2, 6-3, in the final of the mixed doubles.