Paes struggles, Bhupathi sails

Feb 3: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their pre-quarter-final matches of the ATP Tour-Challanger Tennis Championships in contrastin...

Feb 3: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their pre-quarter-final matches of the ATP Tour-Challanger Tennis Championships in contrasting styles at the South Club here today.

In a reversal of roles, Bhupathi breezed through to the last eight stage with a 7-6 7-2, 6-1 win over seventh seed Peter Tramacchi of Australia while top seeded Paes struggled initially before coming on to his own to beat Patrick Fredriksson of Sweden 6-7 8-6, 7-5, 6-1. The hard hitting Swede forced Paes to remain at the baseline in the first two sets. However, the 91st ranked Indian started moving really well in the final set to make some stunning returns.

Paes will now meet wild card Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan in the quarter-final tomorrow. Bhupathi has a tough quarter-final match against Frenchman Gregory Carraz in the bottom half of the table. Incidentally, none of the seeds remain in fray in Bhupathi8217;s half.

There was good news for Indians in the doubles too, with Syed Fazaluddin, pairing with Marcus Hilpert, moved intothe semi-finals defeating Emanuel Couto and Joao Cunha-Silva 7-6 7-5, 7-5. They will now face Barry Cowan and Wesley Whitehouse.

Paes had said yesterday that although he hadn8217;t played against Fredriksson, he knew that the 277 ranked player had a big serve and hit very hard, as Swedes normally do. Paes8217; analysis proved right as Fredriksson started hitting deep returns from the very first game. The first set saw them trading a break each before Fredriksson just about managed to snatch the set in the tie-breaker with Paes serving a double-fault.

His confidence sky-high, Fredriksson broke Paes in the third game of the second set to move ahead. Paes nullified that in the sixth game before turning on the heat. He left behind his tentativeness towards the later part of the second set and earned the decisive break in the 12th game to make it one set all.

The third set was all Paes8217; as he ran away to a 5-0 lead, making a few stunning returns and drop shots close to the net. He ended the two-hour match with anace and Fredriksson knew he had lost to a superior player.

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Bhupathi was a transformed player today. Not only was he serving well, but also returning brilliantly. He even tore away the strapping on his arm midway through the match to indicate that trouble was no longer there. After sharing a break each in the first set, Bhupathi served well to win the tie-breaker. The second set found a free-flowing Bhupathi breaking Tramacchi in the second and the sixth game to wrap it up 6-1. The game lasted 69 minutes and Bhupathi appeared good enough for another match.

Tramacchi was the only seed to fall today. Toumas Ketola, Mose Navarra, Andres Zingman and Flyght Kalle were the other singles players to move into the quarters.

Results: Singles PQF: L Paes bt Patrick Fredriksson 6-7 6-8, 7-5, 6-1; Aisam Qureshi bt Noam Okun 6-1, 6-4; Mose Navarra bt Noam Behr 6-3, 6-3; Andres Zingman bt Barry Cowan 7-6 8-6, 6-4; Toumas Ketola bt Jan Brandt 6-2, 7-6 7-5; Flyght Kalle bt Ofer Sela 6-4, 6-7 5-7, 7-5; MBhupathi bt P Tramacchi 7-6 7-2, 6-1; G Carraz bt J Elrich 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles QF: Cowan/Whitehouse bt Ketola/Rueb 6-3, 6-3; Fazaluddin/Hilpert bt Couto/Cunha-Silva 6-4, 7-6 8-6.