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Paes too hot

Indian ace Leander Pace displayed superb temperament and agility to outclass Asia No 1 Srichaphan Paradorn of Thailand 6-3, 6-4 and enter the final of the Bikaji Rajasthan Golden Jubilee ATP Tour Challenger tennis championship at the Jai Club courts in Jaipur today.

In the final he will meet eight seed Cowan Barry of Great Britain, who got the better of countryman Jamie Delagado, the fourth seed and the finalist of the Lucknow Challenger, 7-5, 6-4.

Paes took only 77 minutes to dispose off the Thai lad. He broke in the fourth and 11th games of the first set and then in the very first game of the next.

The second seeded pair of Anzari Tomas (Cze) and Iwabuchi Satoshi (Japan) made short work of Indians Pralhad Srinath and Syed Fazaluddin 6-4, 6-4 to claim the doubles title.

Paes, who appeared in a fine shape right from the word go, sent down as many as half-a-dozen aces in the match compared to only one by his rival. India's number one, who is now on 166 on the ATP ranking, was more accurate in his serve and volley game as he committed only two double faults as compared to four by Paradorn, who is ranked 100 - the highest in Asia.

Returning rapidly to his own element, Paes, who committed as many as 61 unforced errors against Ketola Tuomas in the quarter-final yesterday, committed just 16 such errors today. On the contrary, Paradorn had 21 unforced errors.

In terms of aces, Paes send down 22 while the Thai 21.

UNI