London: Leander Paes and his Czech partner
Lukas Dlouhy's chances of making the knockout stage of the ATP
World Tour Finals' doubles event suffered a jolt after they
were handed a straight-set defeat by debutants Lukasz Kubot
and Oliver Marach in their opening Group B match here.
The fourth-seeded Indo-Czech pair went down 3-6, 6-7 (3)
to the sixth seeded Polish-Austrian rivals in their opening
match and will now be up against second seeds Bob and Mike
Bryan of Unites States, who also started their campaign on a
disappointing note, losing 4-6, 4-6 to seventh seeds Max Mirnyi
and Andy Ram.
In a 92-minute contest, both the teams fought hard with
many players taking body blows – including one in the throat
for the 36-year-old Paes.
But in the end, it was the sixth seeds who came out on
top, having saved five of six threats on their serve and
converted two of the four break points they created.
Dlouhy was targetted by Kubot and Marach in the tie-break
and a barrage of shots from the back saw the Czech player
break down at the net to give the Polish-Austrian duo a 6-3
lead. The sixth seeds then converted their first match point
as Dlouhy returned the serve long.
"I can't really speak for the other top teams that have
lost, but I can speak for us. We just didn't play our best
game today," Paes said.
"We had a bunch of chances, especially in the second set.
Had a bunch of chances to break. I think it was four or five
break points. Didn't take it. Weren't good enough for the
mark. Also you have to give credit to the other boys.”
"They came out and brought the game to us. We knew their
weaknesses, we knew their strengths. But they managed to play
well enough to beat us today," he added.
Paes and Dlouhy have to be among the top two of the group
to make the cut for the knockout stage.
Paes and Dlouhy, who were bidding for their 50th career
victory together yesterday, have been in good form. In just 15
tournaments this season, they have won two Grand Slam titles
at Roland Garros and the US Open and finished runner-up at the
World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles,
seeded third in group A, had won their opening match on
Sunday.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 16:07