Paes-less India bow out

Nothing hurts more than the fourth and last match point a high forehand volley in the third-set tie-breaker at 9-8. The ball was sailing over the baseline but Fazaluddin, in all his enthusiasm, wanted to make sure that he had hit the match-winner. He did, but it was too long for any comfort. Point gone, the match gone and Indiawere well on their way to play the placing matches on the morrow.

This was not India8217;s day to begin with. Leander Paes woke up to a throbbing pain all over his body. The two matches he played yesterday only made him too sore and he decided to skip singles, opting to play doubles if the need arose. It is highly debatable whether the India number one would have played half as well as Fazal did, considering how poorly he paid yesterday.

Fazal, on the other hand, did not let those watching him miss the Indian superstar on court. The tall and lanky curly-haired Calcuttan was on song from the first point. He had amazing statistics to prove that point. He lost just seven points on his serve in the first set and didn8217;t face a break until the second game of the second, giving enough clues about his confidence on serve.

He saved the break point with a kicking second serve ace to ensure that he held on. And again in the eighth, he went down a break point at 30-40 but slammed in two aces to get to his first matchpoint.

Fazal8217;s match ended there. From there on the blond-haired Iwabuchi took over. As Paes said later, 8220;There is nothing to be ashamed for these two because they played a fantastic game. Fazal played well today but he was quite unlucky not to win and Srinath lost to a better player today.8221;