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Paes dumps top seed Ferreira

Shailesh Soni

Leander Paes is enjoying himself at the Hall of Fame Championships at Newport.

The Indian ace needed only 53 minutes to dispose of top seed Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, winning 6-2, 6-2, to advance to his first ATP Tour quarter-final of the year.

The win reminded one of Paes's victory over Ferreira in 1994, at the Calcutta. On that occasion, it was the now-legendary motivational work of captain Naresh Kumar which spurred then 21-year-old Paes. His all-round display not only overwhelmed Ferreira, the world No 13, but it also rattled the South African side.

This time it wasn't Naresh Kumar who was by his side to goad him, but his coach Bob Carmichael and trainer Sanjay Singh, who travels with Paes when he is in the United States.

Indeed, the courts at Newport are living up to their reputation of being the graveyard of seeds, what with only one seed left in the fray at the quarter-final stage, and seven out in the first two rounds!

Paes will face Australia's Wayne Arthurs, with who he has teamed up for the doubles, in the quarter-finals.

The only seed left is fourth seed Andrew Llie, of Australia, who is in the lower half of the draw.

In his second round match, Arthurs, who unexpectedly reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, advanced to his first quarter-final of the year by outlasting seventh seed Daniel Nestor of Canada, 6-7(6-8), 6-4, 7-6(7-5).

Fourth seed Andrew Ilie of Australia dispatched Germany's Christian Vinck, 6-4, 7-5, and Italy's Laurence Tieleman closed in on his second straight semi-final, by eliminating fifth seed Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, 6-7(4-7), 7-6(7-3), 6-2. Ilie and Tieleman will square off on Friday.

In Friday's other quarter-final match-ups, former NCAA champion Chris Woodruff of the United States will take on Italy's Stefano Pescosolido, while Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark will face Dutchman Peter Wessels. All advanced on Wednesday.

Paes gets 12 bonus points from the yesterday's win, for a total of 43 points so far in the tournament.

Paes, who won his only career singles title at Newport last year, improved to a 13-3 life time record in this event. He has reached the semi-finals or better for the last three years.

Paes is in a peculiar situation as he needs to reach at least the final to be sure of a direct entry at the US Open, for which the cut-off for direct entries is based on the ATP rankings as on July 19.