Paes/Bhupathi crash out
of World doubles

The ace Indian pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out of the 350,000 Touchtel ATP World Doubles Challenge Cup after suffering an unexpected defeat against the Czech pair of Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner, at the Kingfisher McDowell KSLTA stadium, on Thursday.

After two successive victories, they were beaten 6-7 (6-8), 5-7 in their third match, in the Bharti group.

They could have made it to the semi-finals had Mark Knowles/Brian MacPhie lost to John Laffnie de Jagar/Robbie Koenig of South Africa in the concluding match of the group. However, Knowles and MacPhie won 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) to dash whatever hopes the Indians may have entertained and made the semi-finals along with Pala and Vizner from the group.

After three rounds of matches, the Indians had a 57 percentage of set wins -- won four and lost 3; Pavel and Vizner had 71 per cent -- won five and lost two, while Knowles and MacPhie had 63 per cent success -- won five and lost three.

From the Touchtel group, Rick Leach (USA) and Ellis Ferriera (SA) and top seeds Don Johnson and Jared Palmer of the United States made the grade.

In the semi-finals on Friday, Leach and Ferriera, who topped the Touchtel group, will play Knowles and MacPhie, while Johnson and Palmer take on Pala and Vizner.

"We had packed our bags and were ready to fly out today. It is difficult to beat the Indians in India and we cannot believe it. It feels good and we will play our best tennis tomorrow," said Pala after their victory.

"We played badly. We have to give credit where it is deserved. They played better tennis than us," said the Indian pair.

This is the first time since 1997 that the ace Indian pair failed to make the semis of the World doubles championship.

Vizner and Pala had lost their opening round match against Knowles and MacPhie. However they beat the weak team of the group -- John Laffnie and Koenig -- in the third match yesterday and played a brilliant game against the Indians in their final league tie.

Both Vizner and Pala rose to the occasion and won crucial points despite the Indian pair enjoying the home crowd support.

The first set went with the serve till six-all and in the tie-breaker, Vizner and Pala shot to a quick 5-1 lead, breaking Bhupathi and Paes. The Indians managed to level the score at five-all and lead 6-5 as Bhupathi held serve. However, the Czechs steadied their game to clinch the tie-breaker.

The second set also saw the game going the service way till five-all, before Vizner and Pala broke Paes's service in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead. Pala then held serve to emerge victorious.

Earlier, eighth seeds Rick Leach of the United States and Ellis Ferreira of South Africa showed how experience counts when they shocked top seeds Don Johnson and Jared Palmer of the United States 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to top the Touchtel group and make it to the semi-finals.

In the third match of the evening, the Bryan twins, Mike and Bob, of the United States, proved too strong for Tom Vanhoudt of Belgium and Chris Haggard of South Africa, winning 6-3, 6-2.

The Leach/Ferreira-Johnson/Palmer match saw just one service break, when Johnson was broken in the seventh game of the first set.

In the second set, the teams held their serves before Leach and Ferreira dominated the tie-break.

"It was a great win. To beat the Wimbledon champions and the highest ranked team, we did well," said Ellis. "This tournament is great; all the matches are lively and every team gets a chance to make up or go home." added Rick.

"We would like to play Mahesh and Leander in the semis, because the atmosphere will change. Otherwise I don’t play well," said Ellis.

"They played solid tennis and they served very well. We had one chance when we led 40-0 on Ellis`s serve, but he began serving very well. It's like our battery was running out of juice and we will have to re-charge them," said Palmer

Earlier reports:
Day 2: Paes/Bhupathi score second successive victory
Day 1: Paes-Bhupathi kick off campaign in style