NEWS
MATCH REPORTS
DIARY
OTHER SPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
PEOPLE
ARCHIVES

Leander loses in first round

Looking rather the worse, still, for the wear and tear sustained during a fall last week while at practise, Leander Paes lost 4-6, 2-6 to qualifier Chris Groer at Winnetka in the opening round.

It was a rare, almost unheard of instance, as Leander hasn't lost to players ranked below the top-400 when playing at the top of form and fitness, but he indicated before the start of play that the pain in his rib cage was still bothering him considerably, hampering him both on serve, and while stretching for volleys and groundstrokes.

Paes had earlier attempted to play a practise game on Sunday, but stopped midway with major pain, necessitating a hurry call for medical attention.

Leander is now expected to play in the Toronto qualifiers next week, where yet again he could be seeded pretty high. At Winnetka, Paes was top-seeded, and looking to earn some valuable singles points as he seeks to climb beyond the 103 ranking he now holds.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi defeated fourth seed Adriano Ferreira, ranked 180 in the ATP list, in Brazil today to enter the round of 16. Bhupathi, like Paes, is looking to use the week to gain some valuable singles points, and wrapped the game up 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.

The points gained will come in handy, as Mahesh this week fell to a lowly 407 on the world rankings, his lowest in two years.

Today's win gives him 11 points, and he is in line for another 21 if he can get into the last eight.

His opponent is Eyal Ran, the 203 ranked Israeli who, when these two last met at the Aruba Challenger in 1996, had handily beaten Bhupathi.

Nirupama Vaidyanathan, meanwhile, lost to the 69-ranked Elena Tatarkova 3-6, 3-6 in the final round of qualifiers at Stanford. Like Leander, India's top ranked woman appeared to be suffering injury problems, in this case it being her shoulder that was giving her trouble.

Thanks to the injury, she also opted out of the doubles qualifiers, and will be taking advantage of the rest given by this defeat to get her shoulder back in shape.

Nirupama earned 8 points from Stanford, which should bring her up to 160 in the rankings next week, up five places from the 165 rank she holds now.

It's been a steady climb, despite injury, for Nirupama who has picked up 32 ATP points in the last three weeks. Simultaneously, her doubles rankings have also improved from 228 to 210, thanks to 10 points earned in the Gexto, Spain Challenger.

However, the fact that she is giving the Salt Lake Challenger, now on in Chicago, a miss means she will lose the points she earned last year when she reached the semifinal of the event. This, in turn, should impact on her doubles ranking, causing a drop.

In the latest rankings, Leander Paes is on 103 in singles and 7 in individual rankings in doubles, while Mahesh Bhupathi weighs in at 407 in singles, and number three in doubles. The 'Indian Express' doubles combination of Leander and Mahesh remains at number three in the world.

Earlier Story:
Leander top-seeded, Bhupathi wildcards