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Leander returns -- to a bad start

Indian tennis star Leander Paes crashed out of the $325,000 Mercedes-Benz Cup hardcourt tennis event in a first round match.

In the second of the featured night matches, qualifier Eric Taino of the United States, who played collegiate tennis at UCLA, subdued Leander Paes, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

Eric Taino, currently ranked 644 on the ATP, is a former UCLA player and was a top singles player when UCLA was ranked 1 or 2 in 1997 in collegiate tennis. But his ranking is not indictive of what he is, as the 24-year old is a tough fighter.

Paes's first serve percentage was not very impressive right from the beginning and Taino was perfectly comfortable staying at the baseline, but any time the Indian tried to move him up, the dude looked fine doing that too. He came up with some very good passing shots to let Paes know that he can't easily be beaten with serve and volley, especially when the first serve isn't going in often enough.

Taino returned well throughout the match, dropping it at the feet of a charging Paes a few times, or hitting screaming two-fisted backhands past him. Taino's serve is not a huge weapon, but he was accurate enough to keep it on Paes's backhand side and did not let him do much by way of returns either.

Despite all that, the first set went pretty even, and but for the erratic forehand which was spraying long and wide, Paes could have created opportunities for himself. It went with serves with neither getting any break chances till 4-4 when trouble brewed. Paes started with a screming backhand kill on a lob from Taino, which made everyone go ooh, but two great returns from Taino and a volleying error put the Indian ace in a hole at 15-40. Paes just couldn't afford any mistake there, and he came up with three aces in a row to avoid a break.

Paes seemed to be hitting a stride for a minute there, as he went up 0-30 on Taino's serve right then, with a great running forehand crosscourt (the forehand crosscourt shot was conspicuously missing otherwise). But that was a short-lived charge as Taino stayed remarkably composed for somebody playing his first World Series match (as far as I can figure out) - he came up on top in a baseline exchange and then hit an ace, which was followed by a volleying error from Paes.

It went to the tiebreak with no breaks in the first set. Paes fell behind by a minibreak at 2-3. Two more sprayed forehands and a chip shot error from Paes, and it was 2-6. Paes made another charge facing three set points with some nice touch shots at the net, but fell at the third set point, which ended in Taino winning a nice volley exchange and the set.

As for the second set, the less said the better.

In the second game, Paes faced a break point, but for the thired time he came up with an ace to squeeze out of a jam, and won a baseline duel for a change. The real trouble started in the fourth game with Paes serving at 1-2. A Paes double fault and some good running around by Taino, and the Indian was down 0-30.

Again Paes managed to pull it back to deuce after warding off a fourth break attempt. Then he missed yet another forehand long, and one could clearly see frustration on his face, as he looked unable to figure out the inaccuracy in that shot. A good volley from him made it five averted break attempts.

Then something strange happend - Paes played two strange shots, some sort of looping spin shots which could work only if it totally confused and surprised Taino. It did surprise him, but he did return it twice and then went for a winner.

Anyway, it was a sixth break chance for Taino in the match, and this time he got it. After that it was just a matter of him serving twice and breaking Paes once more.

Paes went for two more aggressive forehand shots in the fifth game, perhaps in a last ditch effort to hit his way out of trouble, but it didn't work and he was broken.

So, Taino won second set at 6-1.

Leander will be back in doubles action tomorrow when he pairs with Jonas Bjorkman to play his first round doubles match against the A Florent/P Kilderry pairing.

In the second featured night match, American Michael Chang, trying to stage a comeback, cruised past Wayne Black of Zimbabwe 6-3, 6-1 in a first round match.

In the other matches of day one, fifth seed Thomas Enqvist of Sweden breezed past Australian Mark Woodforde, 6-3, 6-4. Enqvist was a finalist here in 1995 and 1997 and started this season strongly by winning the Australian Hardcourt Championships in Adelaide and reaching his first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open.

In some minor upsets, Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden was beaten by France's Anthony Dupuis, 6-4, 6-4; Martin Damm of Germany was upended by Australian James Sekulov, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5; and American qualifier David Wheaton was eliminated by Sebastien Lareau of Canada, 6-4, 6-2.

Second seeded American Pete Sampras, who overcame Agassi to claim his sixth Wimbledon title this year, will take on wild card Phillip King of the United States today in the featured night match. The 1991 champion and former No. 1 player can reclaim the top spot this week if he advances to the final. If he does, he would break the record for the total number of weeks at No. 1, passing Ivan Lendl's 271 weeks.

In a doubles first round match Byron Black, of Zimbabwe, and Wayne Ferreira of South Africa defeated Pete Sampras and Paul Annacone.