Paes-Black shocked in first round

Paes, though unused to playing from the left court, served well enough and was not broken. But Black had problems aplenty as he was not serving well nor were his returns up to the mark. Black was broken once in each set and that proved enough for the Europeans.

Also, it was fairly obvious that Paes and Black were still to develop understanding which is so vital in doubles play. Incidentally, it was the first time in three years that Paes, whose magical run in doubles alongwith Mahesh Bhupathi began at this venue, lost in the first round of the paired event.

In contrast, the European combination played solidly from the backcourt and drilled holes in the rival defence with accurate returns as also volleying well. Right from the start, they dominated and never allowed Paes and Black a toe-hold in the match.

Then, almost on cue, the heavens wept briefly to bring about an unscheduled stoppage.

The rout of the seeded players in singles continued with 35-year old Ronald Agenor of Haiti, at No 7, being the latest casualty.

Agenor, after taking the first set, faded swiftly in the face of a late onslaught by Martin Damm of the Czech Republic who eventually won in a canter at 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The ambience at the Nungambakkam Stadium seemed to match the overcast and rather gloomy conditions. Tuesday night’s carnage which saw the exit of Yevgeney Kafelnikov, Carlos Moya and defending champion Byron Black, apart from two other seeded players, has taken the gloss off the tournamentwhich the promoters, the IMG, have billed as the “Greatest tennis show in India”. It is now left to the likes of India’s own Leander Paes and second seeded Cedric Pioline of France to lift the tournament, and ironically, only one of them will left standing on the morrow when the two are scheduled to play each other in the second round.

The Damm-Agenor match on the show court hardly set the stands alight. If Damm, ranked 114, but who was No 50 three years ago, was off to a sluggish start, then Agenor belied the early expectations and had little to show after winning the first set. Damm was broken in the ninth game after a long slug-fest from the backcourt, but he soon bounced back to take apart Agenor.The Haitian was hopelessly outplayed in the second and third sets when he seemed content to play the role of a spectator. Damm went for his shots and the tide turned quite dramatically. Despite the three-set encounter, the spectators had little to cheer with Agenor putting up token resistance and Damm racingthrough the games.

On the outside courts, Lorenzo Manta of Switzerland did well to turn back a 0-4 deficit in the first set to wrap up a 6-4, 6-3 win against Michael Tabara (Czech Republic), who had put out the top seeded Kafelnikov in straight sets on Tuesday.

Also through to the round of 16 was Tuomas Ketola of Finland who was a last minute replacement for the injured Moya. Ketola dropped the first set, but came back strongly to beat Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Results (2nd round)
Singles (2nd round): Martin Damm (Czech Republic) bt 7-Ronald Agenor (Haiti) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Lorenzo Manta (Switzerland) bt Michael Tabara (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-3; Tuomas Ketola (Finland) bt Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4