NEWPORT,July 13: India's Leander Paes went down fighting to Sargis Sargsian of Armenia 6-7 (7-3), 6-2, 3-6 in the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Championships today.Sargsian, 24, the fifth seed, rallied from a poor second set to defeat Paes, the seventh seed, breaking his serve in the sixth game of the final set. He also trailed 4-1 in the first set, but came back to win it in a tiebreaker.It was an unusual semifinal for this grass tournament, as the two players played it out mostly from the baseline. Sargsian had only four aces, while Paes hit just one. There were four breaks of serve in the first set and seven overall.Paes said he's not surprised that Sargsian, who is not known for his serve-and-volley game, has advanced to the finals. ``The game's too competitive nowaday,'' he said. ``I don't think he was a longshot to start.''``It definitely makes me happy, but you don't want to be satisfied,'' said Sargsian, looking ahead to today's final.Sargsian will play New Zealand's Brett Steven, the eigth seed, who beat third seeded Grant Stafford, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in the other semifinal match. ``I just tried to relax, breathe and take it easy,'' he said. ``I'm not a grass player,'' said Sargsian, ``but I'm always confident I can do well on grass''.
