Paes too good for Nat. champ Ghouse

Back after leading India to victory in the Davis Cup match against China last week, Leander Paes taught current national champion Mustafa Ghouse a lesson or two in tennis with a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing on way to a place in the second round, in the US $25,000 ATP tennis tournament in Bombay on Tuesday.

Paes, who has not been seeded in the tournament, played the serve and volley game to perfection to rout the Bombay youngster in quick time.

After trailing 30-40 on his serve in the first game of the match, he played some handsome lobs and cross-court shots to overwhelm Ghouse.

He broke Ghouse, who won the National championship last week at Calcutta after beating Vishal Uppal of Delhi in the final, in the second, fourth and sixth games to win the first set at love.

In the second, Ghouse tried to get his rhythm right but in vain. Paes allowed him to hold serve just once -- in the fourth game -- before finishing off the match with an ace in 40 minutes.

In other first round matches, another Davis Cupper and wild card, Syed Fazaluddin went down fighting to top seed Filippo Volandri of Italy 5-7, 4-6 in one hour 47 minutes while Prakash Amritraj, son of former tennis great Vijay, lost to second seed Vincenzo Santopadre of Italy 4-6, 1-6 in a little over an hour.

India's No. 2 player Mahesh Bhupathi also made an inglorious exit, losing to fourth seeded Dutchman Dennis Scheppingen 3-6, 2-6 in just 50 minutes.