Paes crashes out of Wimbledon singles

Shailesh Soni

Indian tennis ace Leander Paes crashed out of the men's singles at the Wimbledon 2001 championships on Thursday, losing to 24th seed Nicolas Escude of France 3-6, 4-6, 2-6 in a second round match.

The first set saw both players initially hold their serves easily till Escude had a break chance in the fourth game. However, Paes did well to hold.

In the eighth game, the Indian was in trouble after double-faulting. Escude went on to convert the fourth break-point to go up 5-3. The game took around 10 minutes, with Paes trying to save his serve.

Escude then proceeded to take the set in the next game at 6-3, in just under 45 minutes.

Four double-faults, 24 unforced errors and a low 42 per cent first serve cost the Indian the set.

In the second set, the Indian was again broken by Escude in the fifth game. Games went with serve thereafter as Escude served off the set in the 10th game at love, winning 6-4.

Paes did improve his game in the second set, which lasted 30 minutes, having a better first serve percentage and no double-faults. But the his main problem was not being able to get points off Escude's serve.

The third set saw Paes again in trouble in the very first game, facing break point, but he managed to hold serve. The story was the same in the third game too as Escude had triple break points again. Paes saved one, but that was all.

Escude, serving very well, quickly raced to a 4-2 lead. In the seventh game, Paes was again in trouble with Escude having double break-points. He did saved one, but again was unable to hold serve.

The Indian tried his best in the next game by taking two points off Escude's serve, but the Frenchman won four straight points and took the match, which lasted 100 minutes.

The Indian got 50 ATP points from his Wimbledon singles play. He now has 51 race points this year.

Earlier reports:
Paes registers his first win at Wimbledon
Paes qualifies for Wimbledon
Paes in qualifying final
Paes, Nirupama in round 2
Paes faces Bulgarian in Wimbledon qualifier